'f  -i*^^!!^^ 


K 


mm 


sec //1 1,119 

Kerr,  Robert  PoUok,  1850-1923. 

Blue  flag;  or.  The  Covenanters  who  contei 

for  "Christ's  crown  and  covenant". 


THE  COVENANTER. 


THE  BLUE  FLAG 

OR 

THE   COVENANTERS 

WHO  CONTENDED  FOR 
"CHRIST'S    CROWN    AND    COVENANT" 

"By 
ROBERT  POLLOK  KERR,  D.  D. 

Author  of 'Tresbyterianism  for  the  People,"  '"Voice  of  God  in  History,"  "Land 

of  Holy  Light,"  "People's  History  of  Presbyterianism,"  '^Wiil  the 

World  Outgrow  Christianity?"  and  "Hymns  of  the  Ages" 


RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA 

J^rrsltytrnait  (Hummittf r  nf  J^ubliratimi 

1905 


r' 


^    ^   i    ^  L 


Copyright 

BY 

R.  E.  MAGILL,  Secretary  of  Publication, 
IQ05. 


I 

Printed  by 

A^HITTF-T  ^  ShEPI'ERSON, 

RiCHMOMJ,  Va.  ^     '..   .''  1 


As 

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». 

f         ' 

-*. 

^;'* 

:>' 

'•e*   '■:  ' 

^,.^" 

V 

\ 


DEDICATED  TO 

niM09  Ikatbarinc  Ibeatb  1ba\x)e9, 

IV/io  conceived  and  carried  out  the  idea  of 
organizing  the  Presbyterian  hoys  of  the 
United  States  in  companies  of  '■^Covena7iters" 
to  ivork  for  Christ  and  his  Church,  infusing 
tnto  them  the  spirit  of  those  splendid  heroes, 
of  whose  toils  and  sufferings  for  liberty  and 
truth  this  book  is  a  history  ; 

AND  TO  THE 

Covenanter  dompanies: 

May  they  Iceep  the  Old  Flag  flying,  and  be 
faithful  soldiers  of  Christ  and  his  Church. 

The  Author. 


PREFACE. 

In  the  enjoyment  of  present  blessings  we  are  apt  to 
be  oblivious  to  the  history  of  the  past,  and  it  is  easy 
to  let  slip  the  great  principles  by  which  our  privileges 
were  won.  The  w^orld  w^ould  be  very  different  from 
what  it  is  to-day  if,  in  the  years  long  gone,  there  had 
not  been  men  and  women  willing  to  die  for  the  purity 
of  Christ's  church  and  its  freedom  from  the  control  of 
national  rulers.  The  Covenanters  of  Scotland  be- 
lieved that  the  church  had  but  one  King  —  Christ 
Jesus  —  and  they  contended,  suffered  and  died  for  his 
crown.  Christ  won  his  crown  by  the  cross,  and  the 
Covenanters  defended  it  by  suffering  for  his  sake.  This 
book  is  written  to  show  not  only  the  supreme  import- 
ance of  striving  for  the  truth  of  God,  but  also  thai, 
for  the  church  and  the  Christian,  the  road  to  Victory 
,  through  strenuous  endeavor  is  by  way  of  The  Cross. 

At  the  end  of  this  volume  are  found  questions  for 
those  who  wish  to  use  the  Blue  Flag  as  a  text-book  for 
stiidy  in  a  Covenanters  company  or  in  a  Sunday-school. 

R.  P.  K. 


CONTENTS. 

Page, 
CHAPTER    I. 

Introductory,    9 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  National  Covenant,   i6 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Solemn  League  and  Covenant 27 

CHAPTER  IV. 
^The  Killing  Time," 35 

CHAPTER  V. 
More  Trouble  for  the  Covenanters 43 

CHAPTER  VI. 
\Persecution  and  Retribution, 57 

CHAPTER  VII. 
A  Bloody  Story. — Battles  of  Drum  clog  and  Both- 
well  Brig,   64 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Cefiance  and  Martyrdom, 74 


8  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    IX.  Page. 

Sanquhar,    79 

CHAPTER  X. 
Two  Stars  of  the  First  Magnitude. — James  Ren- 
wick  and  Robert  Baillie, 87 

CHAPTER  XI.  • 

Blood,  Blood !   97 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Peden  the  Prophet,   108 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  Last  of  the  Martyrs, 116 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Victory !    The  Revolution  of  1688, 122 

Questions,    - .  .  .  .    1 33 


THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Introductory. 

"T  VILLAIN,  dost  thou  say  mass  at  my  lug!"  (ear) 
^  cried  Jenny  Geddes,  an  old  woman  of  the  con- 
gregation, rising,  red  faced,  from  her  stool,  wdiich  she 
had  brought  with  her  to  church.  "Villain,  does  thou 
say  mass  at  my  lug!"  and  with  that  she  hurled  her  stool 

'at  the  head  of  the  minister  in  the 
pulpit.     Whether  or  not  she  aimed 
well  and  hit  the  object  of  her  wrath 
JOINT  cEoots  sTooi  Is  uot  kuowu  at  the  present  day. 

The  probability  is  that  Jenny  aimed 
well  and  threw  straight,  but  that  she  missed  because 
the  minister  dodged,  for  it  is  not  recorded  that  he  was 
hurt,  as  would  certainly  have  been  the  case  if  so  im- 
portant a  man  as  the  Dean  of  Edinburgh  had  been 
struck  with  a  stool  while  holding  service  on  a  Sabbath 
;-  morning  in  St.  Giles'  Cathedral.  But  it  is  recorded 
that  when  Mistress  Geddes  threw  her  stool  at  the  Dean 
there  was  a  great  uproar  in  the  vast  congregation,  and 
many  other  missiles  came  flying  from  various  quarters 
towards  the  pulpit,  and  that  the  terrified  minister  fled, 
though  with  great  difficulty,  out  of  the  church,  parting 
.with  his  vestments  as  he  forced  his  wa}'  to  a  place  of 
safet}'.     The  street  outside  was  also  filled  with  a  surg- 


lO 


THE  BLUE  FLAG. 


ing  multitiule,  wIkj  cried  out,  "The  sword  of  the  Lord 
and  of  Gideon  !"  while  they  beat  upon  the  windows  and 
doors  of  the  cathedral.  The  Bishop  of  Edinburgh, 
hearing  the  u])r()ar,  came  in  person,  and  ascending  the 
pulpit,  attempted  to  still  the  tumult  and  go  on  with  the 


mm 


John  Knox  in  St.  Giles',  Edinburgh. 


serxice.  His  effort  was  a  failure,  for  he  was  assailed 
by  the  crowd,  and  such  was  the  din  of  cries  from  within 
and  withcul  lliai  he  ga\e  uj)  the  attempt  to  restore 
order,  and,  assisted  by  the  magistrates  present,  was 
glad  to  make  his  escape. 

\\  hat    was   the   cause  of   this   riot   in   the   principal 
ch.urcli  of  staid  old   bjlinburgh?     The  tiling  happened 


INTRODUCTORY.  ii 

on  July  23,  1637,  and  this  is  how  it  came  about:  For 
more  than  fifty  years  Scotland  had  been  Presbyterian. 
John  Knox  and  his  helpers  had  completed  the  work  of 
changing  Scotland  from  Roman  Catholicism  to  the 
strictest  Presbyterianism.  It  had  been  a  long  and 
bloody  struggle,  and  victory  was  gained  not  without 
many  a  martyrdom  among  the  Presbyterian  reformers. 
The  harder  the  ])attle  the  people  have  to  fight  to  win 
anything,  the  more  they  appreciate  it.  So  the  Scotch 
felt  that  their  pure  religion,  simple  worship,  and  the 
liberty  that  had  cost  so  much  to  get,  were  worth  fight- 
ing to  keep.  At  the  time  of  Jenny  Geddes,  the  trouble 
was  not  with  Romanism ;  they  had  done  away  with 
that  long  ago,  and  when  John  Knox  died,  in  1572, 
there  were  comparatively  few  Roman  Catholics  left  in 
the  country.  The  conflict  now  was  with  Episcopalians, 
wdio  were  trying  to  force  their  Prayer-Book  and  their 
church  government,  by  archbishops,  bishops,  deans, 
and  churchi  laws  called  canons,  upon  the  sturdy  Scotch. 
The  King  of  England  and  Scotland,  Charles  I.,  and  his 
government  and  church,  were  determined  that  the 
Scotch  should  all  be  Episcopalians,  and  the  Scotch  were 
determined  i:hat  they  would  not  be  Episcopalians.    This 

.\vas  the  cause  of  the  trouble.  Every  one  knows  who 
has  tried  it  how  bard  it  is  to  make  a  Scotchman  change 

^.his  mind,  or  do  a  thing  he  does  not  wish  to ;  and  so 
when  King  James  L  of  England  had  endeavored  to 
make  the  whole  race  of  Scotchmen  obey  his  archbishops 
and> other  clergy,  and  use  their  Prayer-Book,  he  found 
a  difficult  task  to  accomplish.  His  son.  King  Charles  I., 
now^  on  the  throne,  was  obstinate  also,  so  it  is  not  sur- 


12  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

prising  that  there  was  a  long,  bitter  fight  before  it  was 
settled  what  religion  the  Scotch  should  have.  The 
Scotch  had  their  way  at  last,  and  this  book  is  intended 
to  tell  about  the  long  and  bloody  struggles  they  passed 
through  before  they  won  the  victory.  It  was  well  for 
the  world  that  they  succeeded,  for  at  that  time  the 
Episcopal  Church  of  England  was  not  thoroughly  Pro- 
testant. A  great  deal  of  Romanism  was  left  in  the 
beliefs  and  worship  of  the  English.  After  the  Scotch 
succeeded,  in  1688,  in  establishing  Presbyterianism 
forever  in  their  country,  the  true  Protestants  of  Eng- 
land, encouraged  by  the  example  of  the  Scotch,  went 
on  and  made  England  much  more  truly  Protestant  than 
it  would  have  been.  Besides  this,  the  Scotch  have  sent 
out  good  Presbyterians  to  settle  in  man}-  parts  of  the 
world,  carrying  their  religion  with  them;  and  it  has 
been  a  blessing  wherever  it  has  been  planted.  Presby- 
terians usually  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
Bible,  together  with  great  love  of  liberty,  and  they 
teach  their  children  the  Bible  and  the  Catechism,  so 
that  they  grow  up  knowing  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  are  prepared  to  defend  them.  They  have 
always  made  doctrines  more  prominent  than  have  any 
other  people,  and  it  is  a  great  thing  for  Christians  to 
.know  the.  doctrines  of  the  Bible.  It  makes  them  intel- 
ligent, steadfast  and  brave. 

The  thing  the  Scotch  Presbyterians  were  contending 
for  was  the  liberty  of  the  church  from  the  tyranny  of 
kings  and  national  government.  The}^  believed  that 
Christ  was  the  only  King  of  the  church;  that  he  alone 
had  the  right  to  govern  it ;  that  the  Bible  is  the  church's 


INTRODUCTORY.  13 

great  law  book,  and  that  the  church,  as  Christ's  king- 
dom, has  a  right  to  decide  for  itself  what  the  Bible 
teaches.  Now,  when  the  King  and  Parliament  came  in 
and  said,  ''You  must  all  be  Episcopalians,"  the  Scotch 
said :  ''We  will  not,  because  we  believe  the  Bible  teaches 
Presbyterianism,  and  not  Episcopacy;  and,  besides 
that,  it  is  none  of  the  King's  business  what  religion  we 
have.  He  must  not  try  to  take  Christ's  place  as  the 
king  of  his  church  and  the  lord  of  our  consciences. 
The  King  of  England  and  Scotland  and  his  Parlia- 
ments may  make  laws  about  taxes,  police,  prisons,  and 
such  things ;  but  when  he  undertakes  to  rule  the  church 
he  is  trying  to  dethrone  Christ."  So  they  took  for  the 
motto  on  their  flag,  "For  Christ's  Crown  and  the 
Covenant.''  What  the  ''Covenant"  meant  we  shall  see 
further  on  in  this  book. 

This  attempt  to  make  the  Scotch  Presbyterians  turn 
Episcopalian,  use  the  Episcopal  Prayer-Book,  and  have 
archbishops  and  bishops  and  priests,  and  recognize  the 
King  of  England  and  Scotland  as  the  head  of  the 
church,  is  what  made  Jenny  Geddes  throw  her  camp 
stool  at  the  Dean's  head  in  old  St.  Giles'  Church.  She 
was  a  plain  woman,  and  the  others  who  took  part  in 
the  riot  that  day  were  plain  working  people ;  but  they 
^knew  what  it  cost  to  get  their  religion,  and  they  were 
determined  to  keep  it.  Most  of  the  people  of  Scotland 
would  have  Ijeen  too  i)olite  to  throw  a  stool  at  the  Dean, 
but  they  agreed  with  Jenny  and  the  rest  that  the  re- 
ligion which  had  cost  such  a  long  struggle  to  win,  and 
which  they  believed  was  according  to  the  Word  of 
God,  must  be  maintained  at  all  hazards,  and  l)efore  the 


ST.   GILES     CA'niKDKAl. 


IXTRODUCTORY.  15 

fight  was  finislicd  and  the  victory  won,  about  eighteen 
thousand  of  all  classes,  rich  and  poor,  died  for  their 
faith,  or  were  banished  from  the  land. 

The  old  church  where  Jenny  Geddes  threw  her  stool 
at  the  Dean,  charging  him  with  saying  "mass  at  her 
lug,''  or  ear,  is  still  used  as  a  Presbyterian  church, 
and  on  an}/-  Sabbath  one  can  see  more  than  iwo  thou- 
sand people  worshipping  there  morning  and  evening. 
The  reason  this  woman  used  the  word  ''mass"  is  be- 
cause the  Prayer-Book  gotten  up  for  Scotland  by  the 
Episcopal  bishops  had  in  it  a  great  deal  taken  from 
the  Roman  Catholic  Alass-Book,  and  Jenny  could  not 
see  much  difference  between  the  Prayer-Book  and  the 
Mass-Book. 

The  riot  that  broke  out  in  old  St.  Giles'  Church  that 
day  stirred  up  all  Scotland,  and  the  bishops,  arch- 
bishops, deans  and  curates  found  themselves  hi  trouble 
everywhere.  The  people  would  not  attend  the  services. 
When  the  thing  failed  in  Edinburgh,  they  tried  it  still 
in  country  churches,  but  it  would  not  work;  the  Scotch 
Presbyterians  said  they  would  continue  to  be  Presby- 
terians or  die. 


CHAPTER  11. 
''The  National  Covenant/' 

ARCHBISHOP  BURNET,  of  Glasgow,  one  of 
the  men  put  upon  the  Scotch  Presbyterians,  deter- 
mined that  he  would  force  the  people  of  his  part  of 
Scotland  to  be  Episcopalians.  So  he  ordered  the  Pres- 
byterian ministers  to  buy,  each  of  them,  a  copy  of  the 
Prayer-Book,  and  use  it  in  their  churches.  Alexander 
Henderson.  George  Hamilton  and  James  Bruce,  the 
three  most  prominent  Presbyterian  ministers  about 
Glasgow,  were  directly  commanded  to  get  copies  of  the 
book  and  use  it.  Alexander  Henderson  declared  that 
he  was  willing  to  buy  the  Prayer-Book  and  stuily  it, 
but  refused  to  use  it  in  his  church,  saying,  that  in  the 
worship  of  God  he  would  not  submit  to  tyranny.  He 
went  to  Edinburgh  with  a  number  of  otlier  Presb}'- 
terian  ministers,  and  presented  a  polite  but  earnest  peti- 
tion to  the  Privy  Council  of  the  kingdom,  asking  that 
they  and  all  other  Presbyterians  should  not  be  forced 
to  adopt  a  religion  in  which  they  did  not  believe.  The 
Privy  Council  sent  the  petition  to  the  King,  Charles  I., 
in  London,  telling:  him  that  it  would  be  dangerous  to 
the  peace  of  Scotland  to  go  on  with  this  attempt  to 
force  the  people  to  become  Episcopalians.  This  was 
the  feeling  of  the  common  people,  and  also  of  most  of 
the  nobility  of  the  land.  It  made  the  bishops  in  Scot- 
land very  angry,  and  they  did  all  they  ciuild  to  keep 


"THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT."  17 

the  King-  from  giving  the  liberty  which  the  Presby- 
terians asked.  So  the  King  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Privy 
Council  in  Edinburgli,  censuring  them  severely  for  not 
carrying  out  his  plans,  and  especially  for  allowing  the 
riot  in  Edinburgh  in  and  about  St.  Giles'  Church.  He 
further  commanded  that  no  man  should  hold  office  in 
Scotland  unless  he  became  an  Episcopalian.  This  letter 
of  the  King  set  all  Scotland  aflame,  and  thousands  of 
people  went  to  Edinburgh  to  urge  the  Privy  Council 
to  give  the  Presbyterians  liberty  to  worship  God  ac- 
cording to  their  own  consciences.  A  proclamation  now 
came  from  the  King  commanding  the  Privy  Council 
to  leave  Edinburgh,  and  all  the  people  who  had  come 
to  the  city  to  go  home.  The  Presbyterians  then  met 
together  and  drew  up  a  complaint  against  the  bishops 
as  being  the  cause  of  all  the  trouble,  and  great  numbers 
of  the  nobles  and  of  the  people  signed  it,  in  Edinburgh 
and  throughout  Scotland.  But  this  did  no  good;  the 
King  was  obstinate  and  determined  to  have  his  way, 
and  he  issued  a  proclamation  declaring  that  the  bishops 
had  done  nothing  but  what  he  had  commanded  them 
to  do,  and  he  charged  the  people  who  opposed  the 
bishops  with  rebellion  against  himself.     Now,  rebellion 

■'  against  the  King  is  to  be  punished  by  death;  so  the 
Presbyterians   saw   that   there   was  going  to  be  very 

^.  serious  trouble  in  Scotland.  The  Presbyterian  nobles 
and  the  leading  ministers  determined  to  try  to  get  the 
people  to  sign  a  promise,  or  covenant,  to  stand  by 
their  faith  e\  en  unto  death.    A  great  day  of  fasting  and 

.prayer  was  appointed,  and  on  the  day  following  Rev. 
Alexander  Henderson  and  Johnston  of  Warriston  were 


.j8 


THE  BLUE  FLAG. 


Rev.  Alexander  Henderson. 


appointed  to  draw  up  the  Covenant,  and  Rothes,  Lou- 
don, and  Balnierino  to  revise  it.  This  Covenant,  hence- 
forth to  l)e  called  the  "Na- 
tional Covenant/'  consisted 
of  three  parts:  (i)  The  "Old 
Covenant,"  drawn  up  by  Rev. 
John  Craig  many  years  before, 
in  1590,  by  request  of  King- 
James  VL  of  Scotland,  who  be- 
came James  L  of  England,  and 
signed  by  him,  and  for  that 
reason  often  called  the  "King's 
Confession."     (2)  The  acts  of 

the  Scottish  Parliament  condemning  Romanism,  and 
coiifirming  the  acts  of  the  Presbyterian  General  Assem- 
bly. This  part  w^as  w^ritten  by  Johnston,  afterwards 
Lord  Warriston.  (3)  The  special  application  of  the 
whole  to  the  present  circumstances  of  the  church, 
written  by  Alexander  Henderson. 

This  was  the  o-reat  National  Covenant,  and  Februarv 
the  28th,  1638,  was  the  day  set  for  it  to  be  signed  in 
Edinburgh.  By  early  dawn  the  leaders  of  the  churcii 
of  Scotland  met  and  read  o\'er  the  whole  document, 
accepting  it  as  a  true  statement,  and  declared  that  they 
were  ready  to  sigfu  it.  It  was  decided  to  hold  a  great 
meeting  at  Greyfriars  Church,  in  the  afternoon  of  that 
day,  to  have  the  Covenant  signed.  At  the  appinnted 
hour  a  great  multitude  assembled  at  the  church  and 
in  the  graveyard  surrounding  it.  The  Rev.  Alexander 
Henderson  opened  the  meeting  with  a  memorable 
prayer,   which   none  present  e\cr   forgot.      A  solemn 


20  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

hush  fell  over  the  assembly,  for  they  felt  that  upon  what 
they  were  doing  depended  the  future  of  pure  religion 
in  Scotland,  and  that  they  were  about  to  enter  upon  a 
course  which  meant  great  danger  to  them  all.  But  they 
hesitated  not,  for  they  saw  their  duty  plainly.  The 
Earl  of  Loudon  arose  and  addressed  the  meeting  in  a 
prudent  but  forcible  speech,  incUcating  that,  while  de- 
fending their  religion  against  the  bishops,  and  against 
the  King,  they  were  not  disloyal  to  their  earthly  mon- 
arch. They  would  obey  him  in  all  temporal  things,  and 
even  fight  to  defend  his  government  and  person,  but 
in  spiritual  matters  none  could  come  between  them- 
selves and  Christ.  Johnston  then  unrolled  the  vast 
sheet  of  parchment  on  wdiich  the  Covenant  was  written, 
and  read  it  to  the  attentive  assembly.  He  finished,  and 
a  solemn  silence  fell  upon  them.  An  aged  nobleman, 
the  venerable  Earl  of  Sutherland,  slowly  walked  for- 
ward, and  with  his  hand  trembling  from  emotion  and 
old  age,  signed  his  name  first  of  all  to  "this  Covenant 
with  God.  The  multitude  surged  forward,  all  eager 
to  subscribe  their  names.  Many  added  after  their  sig- 
natures the  words,  "Till  death."  Some  pricked  their 
arms  and  signed  with  a  pen  dipped  in  their  own  blood, 
meaning  that  they  were  prepared  to  die  for  truth  and 
liberty  in  Scotland.  It  was  one  of  the  most  solemn  and 
significant  scenes  ever  witnessed,  as  the  Covenant  lay 
upon  the  top  of  a  fiat  tombstone  in  the  churchyard, 
while  the  very  cream  of  Scotland's  best  people  signed 
their  names.  There  was  much  emotion,  a  prayerful 
spirit  pervaded  the  multitude,  and  tears  rolled  down 
many  a  rugged  face.    Copies  of  the  Covenant  had  to  be 


-THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT." 


21 


made,  that  all  might  sign.  Sixty  thousand  people  had 
come  to  Edinburgh,  and  everywhere  the  people  wished 
to  subscribe  to  the  Covenants  which  were  sent  all  over 
Scotland.  So  the  signers  of  the  Covenant,  and  all  who 
stood  with  them  for  truth  and  liberty  in  Scotland,  came 
to  be  known  as  "Covenanters." 


Signing  the  Covenant  in  Greyfriars  Churchyard. 


The  Covenant  declared  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only 
King  of  the  church  ;  that  he  governs  it  through  its  own 
officers,  and  that  they  must  be  free  from  the  interfer- 
ence of  the  officers  of  the  civil  government.  The  civil 
gbvernment  is  over  external  matters,  but  Christ's  is 
^over  the  soul  of  man,  yet  "as  civil  and  church  govern- 
ment be  both  of  God,  and  tend  to  one  end,  if  rightly 
used,  to-wit,  to  advance  the  glory  of  God  and  to  have 
good  and  godly  subjects,  they  ought  to  cooperate 
v(^ithin  tlieir  respective  spheres.  As  ministers  are  sub- 
ject to  the  judgment  and  punishment  of  the  magis- 


22  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

trates  if  they  offend,  so  ought  the  magistrates  to  submit 
themselves  to  the  discipHne  of  the  churcli  if  they  trans- 
gress in  matters  of  conscience  and  rehgion.''  Those 
who  signed  the  Covenant  bound  themselves  to  main- 
tain the  freedom  of  the  church  and  to  preserve  the  Pres- 
byterian religion  in  Scotland  at  the  risk  of  their  lives. 
King  Charles  L  was  alarmed  at  the  spread  of  the 
covenanting  movement  in  Scotland,  and  pretended  co 
yield,  but  it  was  only  to  gain  time  to  prepare  to  crush 
the  Covenanters.  So  he  wrote  to  his  Commissioner  in 
Scotland :  'T  give  you  leave  to  flatter  them  with  what 
hopes  you  please;  your  chief  end  being  now  to  win 
time,  until  I  be  ready  to  suppress  them.  I  have  written 
this  to  no  other  end  than  to  show  you  that  I  will  rather 
die  than  yield  to  those  impertinent  and  damnable  de- 
mands. I  do  not  expect  that  you  should  declare  the 
adherers  to  the  Covenant  traitors  until  you  have  heard 
from  me  that  my  fleet  hath  set  sail  for  Scotland.  .  Thus 
you  may  see  that  I  intend  not  to  yield  to  the  demands 
of  those  traitors,  the  Covenanters."  This- shows  what 
was  in  store  for  the  Covenanters  of  Scotland,  though 
they  did  not  then  know  of  the  King's  duplicity  and 
cruel  designs.  Soon  after  this  the  General  Assembl^v 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland  met  in  Glasgow,  and  the 
Rev.  Alexander  Henderson,  who  had  written  the  latter 
part  of  the  Covenant,  was  made  Moderator  by  a  unani- 
mous vote.  The  King's  Commissioner  to  Scotland  was 
present,  and  protested  against  Mr.  Henderson  being 
made  jModerator;  but  the  Assembly  would  not  give 
way,  and  appointed  Archibald  Johnston,  who  wrote  the 
second  part  of  the  Covenant,  Clerk.     The  King's  Com- 


"THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT."  23 

inissioner  opposed  all  they  did,  and,  amon^  other 
things,  protested  against  elders  being  members  of  the 
General  Assembly.  At  last,  seeing  he  could  not  con- 
trol a  Scotch  Presbyterian  General  Assembly,  he  or- 
dered them,  in  the  King's  name,  to  adjourn  and  go 
home.  This  they  declined  to  do,  so  the  King's  Com- 
missioner left  the  house.  The  Moderator  addressed 
the  body,  urging  the  members  to  be  patient  and  pru- 
dent, but  to  stand  by  the  faith  of  their  fathers.  Wher 
he  had  finished.  Lord  Erskine,  a  young  nobleman,  son 
of  the  Earl  of  Alar,  rose  in  the  gallery  and  respectfully 
asked  permission  to  speak.  He  declared  that  hitherto 
he  had  refrained  from  signing  the  Covenant,  though 
lu-ged  by  his  conscience  to  do  so ;  but  now  he  felt  that 
he  could  no  longer  refuse,  and  implored  the  Assembly 
to  pray  that  he  might  be  forgiven  for  not  sooner  doing 
his  duty.  Then  he  begged  the  privilege  of  signing  the 
Covenant.  He  signed  it  on  the  spot,  and  others  present 
followed  his  noble  example.  The  Moderator  then  asked 
the  Assembly  if  they  were  willing  to  go  forward  witii 
their  business  in  spite  of  the  command  of  the  King's 
Commissioner  that  they  disperse.     Almost  unanimous 

^  was  the  vote  to  go  on  and  do  their  duty.  Then  they 
passed  an  order  annulling  the  appointment  of  bishops 
and  other  Episcopal  ofiicers  in  the  church,  and  con- 

"■  demned  the  use  of  the  canons  and  Prayer-Book  by  the 
ministers  under  the  Assembly's  control.     Mr.  Hender- 

■  son,  when  the  Assembly  was  about  to  adjourn,  said: 
'7F^  have  now  cast  douii  the  walls  of  Jericho.     Let 

'  ///;//  that  rehuildeth  them  beware  of  the  curse  of  Hiel 
the  Bethcliter 


24  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

The  covenanting  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotlan.l 
had  now  taken  its  stand,  and  was  prepared  for  wha;- 
ever  consequences  might  fohow.  Its  members  knew 
that  they  had  started  upon  a  dangerous  road,  in  refus- 
ing to  obey  the  King,  but  they  had  the  comfort  of 
feehng  that  God  was  on  their  side. 

The  King  was  busy  preparing  for  war,  and  raising 
an  army  with  which  to  crush  the  Covenanters.  Lead- 
ing men  of  Scotland  sent  the  King  word  that  they  were 
his  loyal  subjects,  and  were  prepared  to  obey  him  in 
everything  except  in  those  matters  which  pertained  to 
their  religion  and  their  duty  to  God.  But  it  was  of  nc 
avail.  The  wrath  of  Charles  I.  was  kindled,  and  he 
determined  to  carry  his  point  by  the  sword. 

The  Scotch,  on  their  part,  prepared  for  defence 
against  the  expected  invasion.  The  King's  fleet  came 
into  the  harbor  near  Edinburgh ;  but  when  they  found 
the  Scotch  ready  for  them,  they  were  afraid  to.  make 
the  attack,  and  began  a  series  of  negotiations,  a  sort 
of  paper  warfare.  The  army  of  the  King  marched 
into  Scotland,  and  met,  at  Dunse  Law,  the  Covenanters 
arrayed  under  their  banner  bearing  the  words,  "For 
Christ's  Crown  and  the  Covenant."  There  were 
about  twenty  thousand  of  them,  and  they  were  the  best 
of  the  land,  "the  thoughtful,  high-souled  peasantry, 
men  of  strong  frame  and  bold  heart,  led  on  by  their 
honored  nobility  and  encouraged  by  their  beloved  pas- 
tors." Theirs  was  the  courage  of  those  who  fear  no- 
thing but  God. 

King  Charles  was  alarmed  when  he  saw  how  great 
an  army  had  come  out  to  meet  his  troops,  and  a  con- 


"THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT/' 


25 


ference  was  proposed,  the  result  of  which  was  that  the 
King  agreed  to  the  demands  of  the  Covenanters.  A 
treaty  of  peace  was  signed  and  proclaimed  the  same 
day  in  both  camps,  June  18,  1639.  .But  the  whole  thing 
was  a  fraud  and  a  falsehood,  and  the  King  soon  broke 
all  his  promises  to  the  Covenanters.  The  next  year 
war  broke  out  again,  but  ended  soon,  in  much  the  same 
way  as  the  first  had  done,  by  the  King  giving  way  to 
the  Covenanters.  But  King  Charles  1.  soon  had  other 
things  to  occupy  his  mind.  He  was  getting  into  trou- 
ble with  his  Parliament  and  people  of  England,  led  by 
Oliver  Cromwell.  Civil  war  broke  out  between  Charles 
and  a  large  part  of  his  own  people,  and  the  army  of 
Cromwell  and  the  Parliament  proved  too  strong  for 
the  King.  Seeing  he  would  be  ol)liged  to  surrender, 
he  cast  himself  upon  the  Scotch.  x  hey  turned  him 
over  to  the  English,  not  expect- 
ing that  they  would  deal  with 
him  as  they  did;  but  the  Eng- 
lish Parliament  condemned  hini 
to  death.  So  Charles  I.,  the 
perfidious  King,  was  beheade  1 
at  the  palace  of  W'hitehall,  in 

•  London,    in    1649.      This    dis- 
' pleased   the   Scotch,    lor   while 

.  they  contended  for  religious 
liberty,  they  had  always  main- 
tained their  loyalty  to  the  King 
in>ci\'il  matters.     And  nothing  more  is  needed  to  prove 

.the  true  loyalty  of  the  Scotch  than  the  fact  that  after 
Charles  I.  was  beheaded,  thev  received  his  son  Charles 


King  Charles  I. 


26  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

an  exile  in  Scotland,  and  crowned  him  there  as  their 
King,  Charles  IL  Charles  L  was,  like  his  father, 
James  L,  King  of  both  England  and  Scotland.  These 
Stuart  Kings  were  Scotchmen,  and  though  they  were 
immoral  and  faithless  men,  the  Scottish  people  kept  up 
their  loyalty  to  them,  though  outrageously  treated  by 
both  father  and  son. 


CHAPTER  III. 
"The  Solemn  League  and  Covenant/' 

WT  HILE  Charles  I.  was  at  war  with  his  own  Par- 
liament and  people,  the  Scottish  Covenanters 
had  some  rest  from  the  interference  of  the  King,  whose 
hands  were  full  in  England.  In  August,  1643,  another 
historic  General  Assembly  was  in  session  in  Edinburgh. 
Feeling  that  they  were  on  the  brink  of  a  great  crisis, 
this  Assembly  prepared  another  great  document,  the 
greatest  of  all  that  they  had  yet  adopted,  called  "The 
Solemn  League  and  Covenant/'  which  was  for 
years  to  be  their  standard  of  belief  and  hope,  and  from 
which,  as  Covenanters,  the  people  were  thereafter  to 
take  their  name.  The  struggles  which  took  place  under 
this  greatest  Covenant  are  those  wdiich  have  made  the 
name  of  Covenanter  famous  throughout  the  world. 
It  was  one  of  the  grandest  declarations  ever  made  by 
mankind  in  defence  of  liberty  in  religion.  It  was  writ- 
ten by  Alexander  Henderson,  Scotland's  greatest  man 
since  John  Knox.  The  following  are  extracts  from 
"this  famous  document: 

*'yJ  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  for  Reformation  and 
Defenee  of  Religion,  the  Honour  and  Happiness  of 
the  King,  and  the  Peace  and  Safety  of  the  Three 
{{kingdoms  of  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland. 

'      "We,   Noblemen,   Barons,   Knights,   Citizens,   Bur- 
gesses, ^Ministers  of  the  Gospel,  and  Commons  of  all 


28  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

sorts,  in  the  Kingdom  of  Eng-land,  Scotland  and  Ire- 
land, by  the  providence  of  God  hving  under  one  King, 
and  being  of  one  reformed  rehgion,  having  before  our 
eyes  the  glory  of  God  and  the  advancement  of  the 
kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  the 
honor  and  happiness  of  the  King's  Majesty,  and  his 
posterity,  and  the  true  public  liberty,  peace  and  safety 
of  the  kingdoms  wherein  every  one's  private  condition 
is  included  .  .  .  have  now  at  last  (after  other  means 
of  supplication,  remonstrance,  protestations  and  suffer- 
ings), for  the  preservation  of  our  lives  and  our  religion 
from  utter  ruin  and  destruction,  according  to  the  com- 
mendable practice  of  these  kingdoms  in  former  times, 
and  the  example  of  God's  people  in  other  nations,  after 
mature  deliberation,  resolved  and  determined  to  enter 
into  a  mutual  and  Solemn  League  and  Covenant, 
wherein  we  all  subscribe,  and  each  one  of  us  for  him- 
self, with  our  hands  lifted  up  to  the  most  high  God, 
do  swear — 

''L  That  we  shall  sincerely,  really  and  constantly, 
through  the  grace  of  God,  endeavor,  in  our  several 
places  and  callings,  the  preservation  of  the  Reformed 
religion  in  the  Church  of  Scotland,  in  doctrine,  wor- 
ship, discipline  and  government,  against  our  common 
enemies;  the  reformation  of  religion  in  the  kingde)ms 
of  England  and  Ireland,  in  dcKUrine,  worship,  discipline 
and  government,  according  to  the  \\\»rd  of  God  and 
the  example  of  the  best  reformed  churches, 
and  that  we,  and  (mv  j^ostcrity  after  us,  may,  as 
brethren,  live  in  faith  and  love,  and  tlie  Lord  may  de- 
light to  dwell  in  the  midst  of  us. 


THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND  COVENANT.  29 

'TL  That  we  shall,  in  like  manner,  without  respect 
of  persons,  endeavor  the  extirpation  of  Popery,  Pre- 
lacy, .  .  .  superstition,  heresy,  schism,  profaneness, 
and  whatever  shall  be  found  contrary  to  sound  doctrine 
and  the  power  of  godliness,  .  .  .  and  that  the  Lord 
may  be  one,  and  his  name  one,  in  the  three  king- 
doms. 

"IIL  We  shall,  with  the  same  reality,  sincerity  and 
constancy,  in  otn*  several  vocations,  endeavor,  with  our 
estates  and  lives,  mutually  to  preserve  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  Parliaments,  and  the  liberties  of  the 
kingdoms;  and  to  preserve  and  defend  the  King's 
majesty,  person  and  authority,  in  the  preservation  and 
defence  of  the  true  religion  and  liberties  of  the  king- 
doms. 

''VL  We  shall  also,  according  to  our  places  and  call- 
ings, in  this  common  cause  of  religion,  liberty  and 
peace  of  the  kingdoms,  assist  and  defend  all  chose  that 
enter  into  this  League  and  Covenant  in  the  maintaining 
and  pursuing  thereof;  and  shall  not  suffer  ourselves, 
directly  or  indirectly,  by  whatsoever  comi^nation,  per- 
suasion or  terror,  to  be  divided  and  withdrawn  from 
■  tliis  1)]esse(l  uni;:n.     .     .     . 


"We  profess  and  declare,  before  God  and  the  world, 
our  unfeio-ned  desire  to  ])e  hunil)led  for  our  own  sins 
and  for  the  sins  of  these  kingdoms;  especially,  that  we 
have  not  as  we  ought,  valued  the  inestimal)le  value  of 
the  gospel ;    that  we  have  not  la1)ored  for  the  purity 


30  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

and  power  tliereof ;  and  that  we  have  not  endeavored 
to  receive  Christ  into  our  hearts  nor  to  walk  worthy 
of  Iiim  in  our  hves. 

"And  tliis  Covenant  we  make  in  the  presence  of 
Almighty  God,  the  searcher  of  aU  hearts,  with  a  true 
intention  to  perform  the  same,  as  we  shah  answer  in 
that  great  day  when  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  shall  be 
disclosed." 

This  splendid  declaration  was  read  by  Alexander 
Henderson  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  August  17,  1643,  ^^^^^  ^^Y  this  body  adopted 
and  ratified,  with  thanksgiving  and  tears.  Then  it  was 
unanimously  ratified  by  the  Estates  of  Scotland.  In 
this  way  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  l^egan  its 
glorious  history. 

In  London,  this  same  year,  1643,  '^^'^'^s  called  together 
by  Parliament  a  General  Assembly  of  ministers,  to 
prepare  a  Confession  of  Faith  for  the  three  kingdoms. 
It  sat  in  Westminster  Abbey,  and  has  been  known  ever 
since  as  the  W^estminster  General  Assembly,  which 
continued  its  work  five  years,  and  prepared  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  and 
Books  of  Government  and  Worship,  which  are  still,  ui 
somewhat  modified  form,  the  church  constitution  of  all 
English-speaking  Presbyterians.  In  England  at  this 
time  the  Episcopalians  were  not  in  power,  and  the  pre- 
vailing religion  was  that  of  the  Presbyterians  and  In- 
dependents or  Congregationalists.  So  the  Scotch  Pres- 
bvterians  were  inxited  to  send  some  of  their  men  d(^wii 


32  THE  BLUE  ELAG. 

to  London  to  assist  in  the  work  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly.      The   Scotch   General   Assembly   commis- 
sioned for  this  purpose  the  Revs.  Alexander  Hender- 
son, Samuel  Rutherford,  Robert  Baillie,  Robert  Doug- 
las and  Georo-e  Gillespie;    and  Ruling  Elders  John, 
Earl  of  Cassilis;   John,  Lord  Maitland,  and  Sir  Archi- 
bald Johnston,  of  Warriston.     They  were  joyfully  re- 
cei\-ed  in  London,  and  invited  to  sit  as  regular  members 
of  the  Westminster  General  Assembly.     This  they  de- 
clined,  choosino-  rather  to  be  considered  as  commis- 
sioners  from  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  as  such  to 
deliberate  and  confer  with  the  Assembly  on  ail  matters 
which  mig'ht  come  before  them.     They  presented  the 
"Solemn  League  and  Covenant"  which  had  been 
adopted  in  Edinburgh,  and  it  was  then  adopted  by  the 
English  Parliament,  also  by  the  Westminster  Assem- 
bly, and  a  day  set,  Monday,  September  25,  1643,  for 
publicly  swearing  to  each  of  its  declarations-    This  was 
done  in  St.  ]\Largaret's  Chapel,  \\''estminster,  each  per- 
son standing  with  his  head  uncovered,  and  his  bare 
right  hand  lifted  up  to  heaven,  swearing  in  the  greai: 
name   of   God   to   perform   the   engagements   of   this 
Solemn  League  and  Covenant.    After  this  the  members 
of  Parliament  and  the  members  of  the  General  Assem- 
blv  signed  each  his  name  to  the  document.    On  another 
day,  the  15th  of  October,  the  members  of  the  House 
of  Lords  also  signed  the  Covenant.     On  next  Sunday 
it  was  read  in  all  the  churches  of  London  by  order  of 
Parliament,  and  signed  l)y  multitudes  of  the  people. 

Parliament  also  ordered  that  the  Ccn-enant  be  read 
publicly  on  each  fast  day,  in  every  church  in  England, 


THE  SOLEAIX  LEAGUE  AND  COVENANT.    33 

and   that   copies   be    framed   and   hung   up   in   all   the 
churches. 

When  King  Charles  I.  heard  of  it  he  issued  a 
proclamation  denouncing  the  signers  of  the  Covenant 
as  traitors,  and  forbidding  any  others  to  sign  it.  But 
the  King  had  lost  his  authority  over  the  people,  and  his 
proclamation  had  little  effect. 

In  calling  together  the  Westminster  Assembly,  Par- 
liament had  appointed  Episcopalians  as  well  as  Pres- 
byterians and  Independents,  but  most  of  the  Episco- 
palians declined  to  attend  and  take  part  in  it. 

The  Westminster  Assembly,  however,  went  on  with 
its  work,  which  was  finished  after  five  years  of  prayer- 
ful toil.  The  Confession  of  Faith,  Catechisms,  and 
Book  of  Government  and  Directory  of  Worship,  which 
they  prepared,  were  adopted  by  the  English  Parlia- 
ment, and  by  the  Parliament  and  General  Assembly  of 
Scotland. 

In  the  meantime  Charles  I.  was  beheaded,  and  Oliver 
Cromwell  was  made  Lord  Protector  of  England  in 
place  of  the  King. 

.  But   the.  Scotch    Presbyterians    did    not   believe    in 
Cromwell    and    his    government,    and    the    day    after 

'    Charles  I.  was  beheaded  in  London,  the  Scotch  crowned 
liis  son,  Charles  II.,  popularly  called  ''Prince  Charlie,"' 

^-  as  King,  at  Scone,  in  Scotland.     They  loved  him  be- 
cause he  was  the  regular  heir  to  the  line  «,  f  Scotch 

.    kings  that  had  for  a  long  time  ruled  England,  Scotland 

and   Ireland.     He  was  a  handsome  young  man,  and 

'  gifted  with  very  pleasant  manners.     In  spite  of  all  his 

personal  attractions,  however,  "Prince  Charlie"  was  a 


34  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

bad  man  at  heart,  as  the  Scotch  fonnd  out  afterwards 
to  their  sorrow.  In  order  to  secure  the  help  of  the 
Scottish  Presbyterians,  Charles  signed  the  Covenant, 
and  not  only  did  not  live  up  to  it,  but  proved  a  bitter 
enemy  to  the  Covenanters  after  he  came  to  the  throne 
of  England.  The  Scotch  raised  an  army  and  endeav- 
ored to  defend  Charles  from  his  enemies,  but  Crom- 
well came  with  his  arnty  to  Scotland  and  defeated  the 
Scotch.  Charles  led  what  army  he  had  left  into  Eng- 
land, hoping  there  would  be  a  general  uprising  in  his 
favor ;  but  he  was  mistaken ;  there  was  no  uprising 
for  Charles,  and  he  was  utterly  defeated  at  \\'orcester, 
September  3,  165 1,  after  which  he  fled  to  the  Conti- 
nent, where  he  lived  about  from  court  to  court  for 
nine  years,  poor  and  not  much  respected. 

Cromwell  did  not  mince  matters  with  the  Presby- 
terians of  Scotland,  but  ordered  their  General  Assembly 
to  disband  and  the  members  to  return  to  their  homes. 
He  did  not,  however,  persecute  the  Presbyterians,  and 
they  had  peace  while  Cromwell  ruled  the-  three  king- 
doms. Cromwell  was  an  Independent  or  Congrega- 
tionalist,  and  not  a  Presbyterian.  He  died  in  1658, 
and  for  a  short  time  his  son  Richard  ruled  in  his  place. 
Charles  II.  returned  to  England,  and  was  seated  upon 
the  throne  of  his  ancestors  in  1660.  Xow  begins  the 
greatest  period  of  suffering  through  which  the  Scotch 
Presl)yterians  were  ever  called  to  pass,  and  for  twenty- 
eight  years  the  Covenanters  were  persecuted  and  their 
faith  tried  in  tlic  most  cruel  wav. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
'The  Killing  Time/' 

T/^  ING  CHARLES  II.  was  hardly  seated  upon  his 
-■■^  throne  betore  he  began  a  systematic  effort  to  de- 
stroy the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland,  and  to 
establish  Episcopacy  in  its  place,  as  well  as  to  over- 
throw the  liberty,  both  civil  and  religious,  of  the  Scot- 
tish people.  A  base  Parliament  of  sympathizers  wdth 
the  King's  views  and  Wishes  was  gotten  together  in 
Edinburgh,  and  the  Earl  of  Middleton,  a  crafty  and 
able  but  traitorous  man,  always  ready  to  join  what  he 
considered  the  stronger  party,  was  made  Commissioner 
of  the  King  for  holding  the  Scottish  Parliament,  and 
also  commander  of  the  army  in  Scotland.  The  King 
could  not  have  selected  a  better  agent  for  his  wicked' 
purposes.  He  soon  had  the  traitorous  Parliament 
repeal  all  the  laws  which  had  been  made  establishing 
Presbyterianism  in  Scotland,  and  acts  were  passed 
making  the  King  supreme  in  all  matters,  religious  as 

■"  well  as  civil.  Thus  was  an  attempt  made  to  dethrone 
Christ  in  his  church  and  put  Charles  II.  in  his  place. 
One  of  the  first  things  the  King  and  Middleton 
deemed  necessary  to  do,  in  order  to  the  success  of  their 
plans,  was  to  get  the  powerful  Presbyterian  noble,  the 
Mm-quis  of  Argyle,  out  of  the  way.     So  Argyle  was 

'indicted  as  a  traitor,  and,  on  trumped-u[)  charges,  this 
grand   old   Covenanter   was   tried   and   condemned   to 


36 


THE  BLUE  FLAG. 


Marquis  of  Argyle. 


death.     Tl:e  King-  hated  him  because  he  was  a  Cove- 
nan  Itr.  an.l  als  :•  fur  another  reason.     Argyle  had  earn- 
estly  reproved   the   King-,   a  long 
time   before,    for   his   wickedness, 
especially  for  his  flagrant  violation 
of  the  seventh  commandment;  and 
this  interference   with  his  lustful 
pleasures  the  King  never  forgave. 
Argyle    received    the    sentence   of 
death  upon  his  knees,  and  said,  "I 
had   the   honor  to   set   the  crown 
upon  the  King's  head    (when  he 
was  crowaied  at  Scone),  and  now 
he  hastens  me  to  a  better  crown  than  his  own."     Be- 
tween the  time  of  receiving  his  sentance  and  the  day 
of  its  execution,  May  27,  1661,  the  noble  Marquis  en- 
joyed great  tranquillity  of  mind,  and  his  soul  was  filled 
wdth  joy,  and  the  "peace  of  God  that  passeth  all  under- 
standing."    When  his  wdfe  and  some  friends  spoke  to 
him  of  the  cruelty  of  those  who  had  sectired  his  con- 
demnation, he  re])lied,  "Forbear,  forbear!   truly  I  i)ity 
them ;   they  know  not  what  they  are  doing ;    they  may 
shut  me  in  where  they  please,  but  they  cannot  shut  out 
God  from  me."    To  some  ministers,  wdio  came  to  com- 
fort him  in  prison,  he  said  that  they  would  soon  envy 
him  who  was  going  on  before  them,  adding,  "Mind 
that  I  tell  you ;   my  skill  fails  me  if  you  wdio  are  minis- 
ters will  not  either  suffer  much  or  sin  much ;    for  al- 
th(.ugh  you  go  along  with  these  men  in  part,  if  you 
do  not  do  it  in  all  things,  you  are  but  where  you  were, 
and  must  suffer;    and  if  you  go  not  at  all  with  them, 


"THE  KILLING  TIME."  37 

you  shall  but  suffer."  These  were  prophetic  words, 
and  history  soon  showed  that  they  were  true.  The 
night  before  his  execution,  Arg-yle  slept  as  soundly  as 
if  no  awful  doom  were  impending.  As  he  lay  slum- 
bering like  an  infant  on  his  bed  in  the  dungeon  over 
the  gate  of  the  Edinburgh  Castle,  some  of  his  enemies 
came  in  to  see  how  he  conducted  himself,  and  were 
amazed  to  find  him  sleeping  so  sweetly  during  his  last 
night  on  earth.  It  is  thought  that  their  consciences 
smote  them  as  they  looked  at  him  lying  there,  under 
the  overshadowing  wing  of  God,  for  they  must  ha\"e 
reflected  that  no  one  of  their  number  could  have  been 
so  free  from  fear  in  prospect  of  an  awful  death. 

Just  before  the  fatal  moment,  as  he  was  about  to 
march  from  his  cell  to  the  place  of  execution,  a  friend, 
Mr.  Hutcheson,  came  to  him,  and  said,  "\Miat  cheer, 
my  lord?"  and  he  answered,  "Good  cheer,  sir;  the 
Lord  hath  again  confirmed  and  said  to  me  from  heaven, 
thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee."  Then  he  wept  for  joy  at  the 
near  prospect  of  heaven,  and  said  to  Mr.  Hutcheson, 
Avith  tears  streaming  down  his  face,  "I  think  his  kind- 
ness overcomes  me.  But  God  is  good  to  me,  that  he 
let  not  out  too  much  of  it  here,  for  he  knows  I  could 
Miot  bear  it.  Get  me  my  cloak,  and  let  us  go.  Now, 
l^t  us  go,  and  (lod  be  with  us.  I  could  die  like  a 
Roman,  but  I  i)rcfer  ti)  die  like  a  Christian.  Come 
away,  gentlenien :  he  that  goes  first  goes  cleanliest." 
The  Rev.  James  Guthrie,  another  Covenanter,  under 
sentence  to  die  en  Friday  ni  that  same  week,  embraced 
.him  and  said,  "My  lord,  God  hath  been  with  yt)u;  he 
is  with  vou,  and  will  ])e  with  vou.      And  such  is  my 


38 


THE  BLUE  ELAG. 


respect  for  your  lordship,  that  if  I  were  not  under 
sentence  of  death  myself,  I  would  cheerfully  die  for 
your  lordship."  So  they  parted,  to  meet  again  in 
heaven  on  Friday  morning. 

Argyle  made  an  address  from  the  scaffold,  and, 
among  other  things,  said :  "1  come  not  here  to  justify 
myself,  hut  the  Lord,  wdio  is  holy  in  all  his  ways,  right- 
eous in  all  his  works,  holy  and  hlessed  he  liis  name. 
Neither  come  I  to  condemn  others.  I  hless  the  Lord, 
I  pardon  all  men,  and  desire  to  he  pardoned  of  the  Lord 
myself.  Let  the  will  of  the  Lord  he  done;  that  is  all 
I  desire.  .  .  .  These  times  are  like  to  he  either  very 
sinning  or  suffering  times;  let  Christians  make  their 
choice.  There  is  a  sad  dilemma  in  the  husiness — sin 
or  suffer.  Surely  he  that  will  choose  the  hetter  part 
will  choose  to  suffer ;  others  that  will  choose  to  sin 
will  not  escape  suft'ering.  They  shall  suff'er,  hut  per- 
haps not  as  1  do  (pointing  to  the  maiden  or  guillotine), 
but  worse.  Aline  is  but 
temporal ;  theirs  shall 
be  eternal." 

Air.  Hamilton  prayed, 
then  Argyle  prayed,  and 
AL".  Hutcheson  said. 
"Aly  lord,  now  hold 
your  grip  sicker." 
(Hold  on  with  a  firm 
gras]).)  He  answered, 
"Y  o  u  k  n  o  w.  Air. 
Hutcheson,  what  I  said 
to  you  in  the  chamber. 

-,  .       .  .  .  The  Maiden, 

1       am       not       airaid       or      (Now  m  the  National  Museum,  Edinburgh.) 


''THE  KILLING  TIME."  39 

being  surprised  with  fear."  He  kneeled  down,  laid  his 
head  upon  the  block,  and,  after  a  brief  prayer,  lifted  his 
hand  as  a  signal  to  the  executioner.  The  axe  fell, 
and  the  head  of  the  martyr  dropped  into  the  basket, 
while  his  soul  fled  up  to  God,  to  receive  the  crown 
promised  to  all  who  are  faithful  unto  death.  His 
head  was  fixed  upon  the  west  end  )f  the  Tolbooth 
prison,  where  all  could  see  it  from  the  street.  Hi^ 
body  was  carried  away  by  friends  to  Dunoon,  near 
Glasgow,  and  buried  in  Kilmun  Church.  A  writer  of 
history  says  of  Argyle,  "He  had  piety  for  a  Christian, 
sense  for  a  counsellor,  courage  for  a  martyr,  and  a  soul 
for  a  king." 

This  was  the  man  who  had  put  the  crown  upon  the 
head  of  Charles  II.  as  King  of  Scotland,  ten  years 
before,  saying  to  him,  "Stand  fast  from  henceforth, 
in  the  place  whereof  you  are  the  lawful  and  righteous 
heir,  by  a  long  and  lineal  succession  of  your  fathers, 
which  is  now  delivered  to  you  by  the  authority  of  God 
Almighty."  The  murder  of  Argyle  under  forms  of 
law  w^as  luit  the  1:)eginning  of  a  long  list  of  cruelties 
to  be  put  upon  tlie  Scottish  Covenanters  by  this  wicked 
King,  who  had  himself,  in  time  of  adversity,  signed 
'  the  Covenant,  but  when  he  came  to  power  broke  his 
Vow,  and  persecuted  to  their  death  those  whom  he  had 
..  sworn  to  defend.  His  name  is  written  in  the  catalogue 
of  traitors,  and  consigned  to  the  everlasting  infamy 
which  it  deserves. 

0n  Friday  of  the  same  week  the  Rev.  James  Guthrie, 

•  minister  of  Stirling,  was  put  t(3  death.     The  principal 

charge  against  him  was  that  he  had  denied  that  the 


40  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

King  had  authority  to  try  a  man  respecting  matters 
purely  ecclesiastical,  such  as  presbyterial  acts  and  let- 
ters, preaching,  and  the  discharge  of  his  ministerial 
duties.  These  matters,  he  contended,  belong  to  the 
church  itself  to  decide.  He  had  also  pronounced  sen- 
tence of  excommunication  against  the  Earl  ]Middleton, 
and  now  that  vindictive  man  found  his  opportunity  to 
take  vengeance  on  him.  He  was  tried  and  condemned 
as  a  traitor,  and  he  said  to  the  judges:  "Aly  lords, 
my  conscience  I  cannot  submit ;  but  this  crazy  old  body 
and  mortal  flesh  I  do  submit,  to  do  with  it  whatsoever 
you  will,  whether  by  death,  banishment  or  anything 
else;  only  I  beseech  you  to  ponder  well  what  profit  is 
in  my  blood.  It  is  not  extinguishing  me  or  many 
others  that  will  extingtiish  the  Covenant  and  work  of 
reformation  since  1638.  My  blood,  bondage  or  banish- 
ment will  contribute  more  for  the  propagation  of  those 
things  than  my  life  or  liberty  could  do,  though  I  should 
live  many  years."  He  died  crying  out,  "The  Cove- 
nants, the  Covenants,  shall  yet  be  Scotland's  reviving!" 
and  he  went  thus  to  join  Argyle  and  the  host  of  mar- 
tyrs under  the  altar  in  heaven. 

Another  victim,  William  Govan,  was  sacrificed  along 
with  Mr.  Guthrie,  on  the  same  day. 

The  next  whom  it  was  determined  should  die  was 
the  saintly  Samuel  Rutherford,  who  had  been  a  Com- 
missioner from  Scotland  to  the  famous  Westminster 
Assembly  in  London  in  1643.  Riifhcrforcfs  Letters, 
a  published  collection  of  his  letters  on  religious  sub- 
jects, are  still  read  by  the  jMinis  among  all  English- 
s]')eaking  peo])le.     He  wr(^te  a  bi^ok  called  Lev  Rev,  in 


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42  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

which  he  defended  the  Covenants  and  the  Covenanters, 
hut  which  offended  the  King-  so  his  hook  was  puhhcly 
burned,  and  lie,  too;  must  die.  WHien  the  summons 
came  to  iu"m  to  appear  for  trial,  he  was  lying-  upon  his 
death-bed,  and  he  said  to  the  messengers,  ''Tell  them 
(the  judg-es)  that  I  have  got  a  summons  already  before 
a  superior  Judge  and  judiciary,  and  I  behoove  to  answer 
my  first  summons,  and  ere  your  day  come  I  will  be 
where  few  kings  and  great  folks  come."  At  this  time 
he  was  living  in  the  college  at  Aberdeen.  The  men 
returned  and  delivered  his  message  to  the  court  of 
Parliament,  and  a  vote  was  taken  whether  or  not  he 
should  be  allowed  to  die  in  the  college.  It  was  car- 
ried— "put  him  out" — only  a  few  dissenting.  Lord 
Burleigh  said,  "Ye  have  voted  the  honest  man  out  of 
the  college,  but  ye  cannot  vote  him  out  of  heaven.  I 
wish  I  were  as  sure  of  heaven  as  he  is ;  I  would  think 
myself  happy  to  get  a  grip  of  his  sleeve  to  haul  me  in." 
Mr.  Rutherford,  before  the  day  of  his  release  from 
sufferiiig,  said :  "I  shall  see  my  kingly  King.  I  shall 
shine.  I  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  .  .  .  Mine  eyes  shall 
see  my  Redeemer ;  these  very  eyes  of  mine,  and  none 
other  for  me.  Let  my  Lord's  name  be  exalted ;  if  he 
should  slay  me  ten  thousand  times,  I  will  trust.  Oh ! 
for  arms  to  embrace  him.  Oh  !  for  a  well-tuned  harp." 
So  he  went  home  and  received  his  harp  and  his  crown. 


CHAPTER  V. 
]\IoRE  Trouble  for  the  Covenanters. 


KING  CHARLES,  now  that  the  great  Marquis  of 
Argyle  was  out  of  the  way,  determined  to  go  on 
with  his  work  in  Scotland.     Having  gotten  a  Parha- 
ment  of  renegades  and  ultra-royaHsts  together  in  Edin- 
burgh, the  King  wrote  a  letter,-  in  September,   1661, 
to  the  Privy  Council  there,  ordaining  that  Episcopacy 
be  made  the  established  religion 
in  Scotland,  and  three  months 
afterwards  another  letter,  pro- 
hibiting any  meeting  of  Synods, 
Presbyteries  or  church  sessions 
till   they  might  be   ordered  by 
the    archbishops     and     bishops 
who    had    been    appointed    for 
Scotland.      The  principal  arch- 
bishop  in   Scotland  was  James 
Sharp,  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews.     This  Sharp  was 
a  deserter  from  the  Covenanters,  and  a  traitor  to  his 
oath  and  to  those  who  trusted   him.      He  liad   been 
chosen  by  the  Covenanters,  when  Charles  II.  ascended 
the  throne,  to  represent  them  in  London  and  to  plead 
their  cause  with  the  King.     Before  leaving  Scotland 
oh  this  mission,  he  secretly  joined  himself  to  the  ene- 
mies of  the  Covenanters,  and  went  to  London  for  the 
.  purpose  of  betr-aying  them  and  securing  wealth  and 


Archbishop  Sharp 


44  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

honor  for  himself.  He  was  rewarded  for  his  perfidy 
by  being  made  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews  and  "Pri- 
mate of  all  Scotland." 

When  the  renegade  Parliament  met  in  Edinburgh, 
the  bishops  and  archbishops  were  admitted  with  pomp 
and  show,  and  the  business  they  had  in  hand  was  begun 
May  8,  1662.  The  first  thing  they  did  was,  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  King,  to  declare  that  Charles  H.  had 
all  authority  over  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  then 
ordained  that  Episcopacy  should  l3e  the  established  re- 
ligion of  the  land.  It  also  gave  the  sole  right  of  ap- 
pointing pastors  to  the  government,  for  while  the  Cove- 
nanters had  control  they  had  abolished  all  such  pro- 
cedure, holding  that  the  people  ought  to  elect  their  own 
pastors. 

When  tlie  Parliament  adjourned,  the  King's  repre- 
sentative, the  Earl  of  Middleton,  and  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil, published  an  edict  requiring  all  the  Presbyterian 
ministers  ordained  since  1649  ^0  come  to  the  bishops 
and  accept  their  authority,  or  be  banished,  from  their 
churches  and  manses.  When  the  Council  passed  this 
order,  Burnet,  himself  the  Episcopal  Archbishop  of 
Glasgow,  writes  that  the  Duke  of  Hamilton  told  him 
that  the  members  of  the  Council  "were  all  so  drunk 
that  day  that  they  were  not  capable  of  considering  any- 
thing that  was  laid  l)efore  them,  and  would  hear  of 
nothing  but  the  executing  of  the  law  without  any  re- 
lenting or  delay."  ]\Jiddleton  exi>ected  that  the  min- 
isters would  all  fall  in  with  these  orders,  and  that  would 
be  the  end  of  Presbyterianism  in  Scotland ;  but  he  was 
mistaken  in  judging  the  Covenanters  by  his  own  stand- 
ard of  morals. 


MORE  TROUBLE.  45 

They  were  commanded  ''to  remove  themselves  and 
their  families  out  of  tlieir  parishes  betwixt  now  and 
the  first  day  of  November  next  to  come,  and  not  to 
reside  within  the  bounds  of  their  respective  Presby- 
teries/' and  they  were  to  lose  their  salaries  for  the 
future  not  only,  but  also  for  the  past  year,  unless  they 
would  agree  to  submit  to  the  bishops. 

The  Presbyterian  ministers  determined  to  give  up 
all  for  Christ's  Crown  and  Covenant.  They  resolved 
that  they  would  rather  die  than  break  their  vow  as 
Covenanters.  On  the  last  Sabbath  of  October  they 
assembled  their  congregations  for  farewell  meetings. 
In  many  cases  the  people  wept  aloud,  as  they  listened 
to  their  beloved  pastors  for  the  last  time,  and  bade 
them  good-bye  with  many  lamentations.  The  order 
expelling  the  ministers  was  issued,  and  so  four  hun- 
dred pastors  and  their  families,  who  refused  to  submit, 
were  turned  out  of  their  churches  and  homes  at  the 
instigation  of  bishops  who  professed  to  be  mmisters  of 
the  Prince  of  Peace.  Archbishop  Sharp  preferred  a 
more  gradual  and  prudent  process  of  extinguishing 
Presbyterianism  in  Scotland,  but  the  bishops  of  the 
middle  and  southern  districts  and  the  Earl  of  Middlet  )n 
'■  took  the  shorter  course. 

Bishop  Burnet  writes  that  invitations  were  sent  out 
all  over  Scotland  to  ministers  who  were  willing  to  sub- 
mit to  the  bishops  to  come  and  take  the  vacant  churches 
and  manses,  and  men  were  found  willing  to  do  so  for 
the  money  they  would  receive.  But  Burnet  says : 
/"They  were  the  worst  preachers  I  ever  heard;  they 
were  ignorant  to  a  reproach ;   and  many  of  them  were 


46  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

openlv  vicious.  They  were  a  disgrace  to  their  orders 
and  the  sacred  functions,  and,  indeed,  were  the  dregs 
and  refuse  of  the  northern  parts.  The  former  pastors 
liad  heen  related  to  tlie  l)est  famihes  in  the  country, 
-either  by  blood  or  marriage,  and  had  lived  in  so  decent 
a  manner  that  the  gentry  paid  respect  unto  them.  They 
used  to  visit  their  ])eople  much,  and  were  so  full  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  so  ready  at  extempore  prayer,  and  from 
that  they  grew  to  practice  extempore  sermons.  They 
had  brought  the  people  to  such  a  degree  of  knowledge 
that  cottagers  and  servants  would  have  prayed  extem- 
pore. By  these  means  they  had  a  comprehension  of 
matters  of  religion  greater  than  1  have  seen  among  peo- 
ple of  that  sort  anywhere.  And  it  can  hardly  be  im- 
iigined  how  the  ministers  had  been  respected  and  loved 
b>  their  people." 

These  were  the  men  who  left  their  homes,  gave  up 
all  temporal  support,  and  started,  in  the  depth  of  win- 
ter, out  into  the  world,  with  nothing  but  their  faith  in 
God.  It  afforded  a  spectacle  of  moral  heroism  seldom 
seen.  They  knew,  too,  that  in  thus  disobeying  the  gov- 
ernment for  conscience'  sake  they  were  perilling  their 
lives.  Middleton  was  amazed  at  the  courage  displayed 
l)y  the  four  hundred  covenanting  ministers.  Cursing 
their  obstinacy,  he  said,  "What  will  these  mad  fellows 
do?  "  But  the  effect  upon  the  Scottish  people  was 
electric,  and  from  one  end  of  the  land  to  another  there 
was  felt  a  thrill  of  admiration  and  syiupathy.  Such 
heroism  can  never  fail  of  its  effect,  and  to  this  day 
the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland  are  stronger  when  they 
read  of  the  noble  Four  Hundred  ministers  who  gave 


MORE  TROUBLE.  47 

up  their  earthly  aU  for  "Christ's  Crown  and  tlie  Cove- 
nant," in  the  winter  of  1662.  This  made  it  impossible 
that  Episcopacy  should  ever  be  established  in  Scotland. 

One  effect  of  Middleton's  rashness  was  to  lose  him 
his  place  as  the  King's  representative  in  Scotland.  He 
was  recalled,  and  the  Earl  of  Rothes  appointed  in  his 
place,  a  man  of  even  worse  character  than  Middleton. 

After  1663  the  Scottish  Parliament  was  not  called 
to  meet  for  six  years,  and  the  government  was  con- 
ducted by  proclamations  from  the  King  and  by  acts 
of  the  Privy  Council  in  Edinl:)urgh.  This  Council  had 
all  power  in  its  hands,  and  the  archbishops  were  mem- 
bers of  it.  So  there  was  no  lack  of  zeal  for  the  thor- 
ough suppression  of  the  Covenanters,  the  establishment 
of  Episcopacy,  and  the  supremacy  of  the  King  over  the 
church. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  a  brave  people  should 
tamely  submit  to  such  cruel  oppression  as  was  then  put 
upon  the  Scotch,  and  they  would  have  l)een  less  than 
human  if  they  had  not  risen  up  against  it. 

The  mass  of  the  people  refused  to  attend  the  services 
conducted  in  their  churches  by  the  unworthy  pastors 
sent  by  the  archbishops  and  bishops,  after  the  Cove- 
nanter ministers  had  been  expelled.  They  were  un- 
willing to  approve  by  their  presence  these  men,  who 
were,  many  of  them,  wolves  in  sheep's  clothing,  and 
whose  lives  were  a  disgrace  to  the  sacred  calling  which 
they  assumed.  This  was  right ;  it  was  almost  the  only 
way  left  for  the  people  to  testify  against  the  iniquitous 
usurpation  of  Christ's  crown  by  the  wicked  govern- 
ment of  the  countrv. 


48  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

There  was  a  great  mistake  made,  however,  in  an 
uprising  of  a  small  section  of  the  people  in  the  western 
counties,  who  took  up  arms  in  a  hopeless  struggle 
against  forces  too  great  for  their  small  strength  and 
resources.  But  the  outrageous  proceedings  of  the  High 
Court  of  CcMiimission  in  persecuting  men  and  women 
to  the  death,  because  of  their  faith,  goaded  them  to 
desperation.  The  noble  old  Earl  of  W^arriston,  one 
of  the  framers  of  the  National  Covenant  of  1638,  who 
had  been  obliged  to  fly  to  the  Continent  for  safety, 
was  basely  given  up  to  the  English  by  the  King  of 
France,  and  brought  back  to  Edinburgh  to  Idc  tried  for 
treason.  He  gave  up  his  life  on  the  scaffold,  being 
hanged  in  Edinburgh  in  the  presence  of  a  large  con- 
course of  people.  At  the  last  he  prayed,  "Abba,  Father ! 
accept  this  thy  poor  sinful  servant,  coming  unto  thee 
through  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ."  His  body  was 
cut  down,  and.  his  head  struck  off,  and  set.  up  beside 
that  of  his  dear  friend,  the  Rev.  James  Guthrie,  and 
the  headless  body  buried  in  Greyfriars'  churchyard. 
On  the  intercession  of  Lieutenant-General  Drummond, 
who  was  his  son-in-law,  his  head  was  afterwards  taken 
down  and  buried  with  his  body. 

So  the  traitorous  Archbishop  Sharp,  of  St.  An- 
drews, "Primate  of  all  Scotland,"  commonly  called 
Judas  by  the  Covenanters,  and  who  was  the  instigator 
of  these  infamies,  triumphed  over  Ciod's  people. 

The  uprising  in  the  West  was  precipitated  by  an 
army  being  sent  under  Sir  James  Turner  to  that  region 
to  compel  the  submission  of  the  Covenanters.  This 
vile  man  quartered  his  licentious  soldiers  on  the  people, 


MORE  TROUBLE.  49 

consuming  all  they  needed  of  their  property,  and  de- 
stroying what  was  left,  and  treating  men  and  women, 
especially  women,  in  the  most  insulting  and  outrageous 
manner.  It  would  not  be  decent  to  describe  the  awful 
indignities  put  upon  the  women  l)y  the  licentious  sol- 
diery. Many  men  were  sold  as  slaves,  or  sent  in  exile 
to  the  Barbadoes,  to  perish  under  a  tropical  sun.  Seven 
months  of  this  unremitting  barbarity  had  passed,  when 
four  countrymen,  driven  from  their  homes  and  wan- 
dering about  in  Galloway,  heard  that  some  brutal 
soldiers  were  inflicting  most  cruel  abuse  upon  a  poor 
old  man  in  order  to  compel  him  to  pay  a  ruinous  fine 
which  they  demanded.  The  four  countrymen  hastened 
to  the  spot,  and  found  the  aged  Covenanter  lying  upon 
the  ground,  bound  hand  and  foot,  and  the  soldiers 
stripping  him  in  order  to  lay  him  upon  a  red-hot  grid- 
iron. A  chronicler  of  the  period  says,  "The  voice  of 
outraged  humanity  was  louder  than  the  cold  whisper 
of  cowardly  prudence,  and  they  interposed  to  rescue 
the  venerable  sufferer."  The  soldiers  drew  their 
swords,  and  a  brief  struggle  follc^wed,  in  which  one 
of  the  soldiers  was  wounded  and  the  others  overcome 
and  disarmed  l)y  the  four  countrymen.  Seeing  that 
-there  was  nothing  for  them  but  death,  at  the  hands 
'of  the  government,  they  determined  to  go  on  and  en- 
deavor to  raise  the  peo])le  against  their  persecutors. 
The  next  day  they  attacked  about  a  dozen  soldiers  and 
killed  one  of  them.  Men  froni  the  surrounding  country 
joined  this  little  band  i)i  i)atriots,  and  with  their  re- 
cruits they  marched  to  Dumfries,  where  they  succeeded 
..in  capturing  Sir  James  Turner,  though  they  subjected 


50  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

him  to  no  violent  treatment.  From  Dumfries  they  pro- 
ceeded into  Ayrshire,  where  their  numbers  were  again 
increased,  and  they  l^ecame  more  hopeful  that  they 
might  deliver  Scotland  from  the  oppressors. 

1  he  Earl  of  Rothes  ])eing  absent  in  London  when 
this  insurrection  broke  out.  Archbishop  Sharp  was  at 
the  head  of  the  Privy  Council  in  Edinburgh,  and  so  in 
charge  of  the  government.  One  Dalziel,  of  Bims,  was 
appointed  to  command  the  army  of  the  g'overnment 
and  suppress  the  insurrection.  Sharp  was  alarmed, 
and  all  his  fellow-oppressors,  for  fear  that  the  day  of 
reckoning  had  come  for  them,  and  that  in  a  short  time 
the  whole  of  Scc^tland  vv'ould  1)e  up  in  arms  for  their 
destruction.  So  a  great  army  was  raised,  and  mighty 
preparations  made,  to  crush  the  little  band  of  insur- 
rectionists, who  were  by  this  time  somewhat  organized 
and  under  command  of  Colonel  Wallace.  Wallace's 
little  army  of  nine  hundred  marched  to  Lanark,  where 
they  halted  and  renewed  the  Covenant,  and  proceeded 
towards  Edinburgh.  At  the  Pentland  Hills  they  were 
confronted  by  the  army  of  Dalziel.  In  three  encoun- 
ters the  Covenanters  put  the  royal  army  to  flight ;  but 
they  had  engaged  only  a  part  of  the  force  of  the  enemy. 
Dalziel  brought  up  his  whole  army,  and  the  Cove- 
nanters, after  a  few  grim  moments  of  prayer,  received 
the  shock  of  overwhelming  hi)sts,  and  were  (n'ercome 
after  a  well-ftmght  fight. 

i\ll  who  were  taken  prisoners  were  put  to  death. 
Their  heads  were  fixed  in  conspicuous  places  as  a 
warning  to  all  who  might  resist  the  government,  at 
Kirkcudbright,    Kilmarnock  and   Hamilton,  and  their 


MORE  TROUBLE.  5^ 

rig-ht  hands  were  exposed  at  Lanark,  l^ecanse  ihere  they 
had  signed  the  Covenant. 

One  of  the  victims  of  the  vengeance  of  Archbishop 
Sharj)  and  the  government  was  the  Rev.  Hugh  McKail, 


Defeat  at  RuUion  Green,  Pentlands,  1655. 


^a  young  minister,  eminently  learned,  eloquent  and 
pious.  He  had  been  with  the  insurrectionists,  though 
not  at  the  1)attle  of  the  Pentland  Hills.  He  was  tor- 
tured until  he  fainted,  and  his  l)()nes  l)r()ken  with  ham- 
mers to  induce  him  to  betray  the  men  who  had  engaged 
.in  the  uprising.  Nothing  was  accomplished,  and  he 
was  executed.     His  last  words  were :    "Welcome,  God 


52  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

and  Father ;  welcome,  sweet  Jesus,  the  Mediator  of 
the  New  Covenant :  welcome.  1)lessed  Spirit  of  grace 
and  God  of  all  consolation;  welcome,  glory;  welcome, 
eternal  life;  welcome,  death.  O  Lord,  into  thy  hands 
I  commit  my  spirit;  for  thou  hast  redeemed  my  soul, 
Lord  God  of  truth."  An  historian  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland  says ;  ''Thus  passed  from  earth,  on  the  22nd 
of  Decemher,  1666,  one  of  the  hrightest,  purest  and 
most  sanctihed  spirits  that  ever  animated  a  human 
form.  Till  the  records  of  time  shall  have  melted  into 
those  of  eternity,  the  name  of  that  young  Christian 
martyr  will  1)e  held  in  most  affectionate  remembrance 
by  every  true  Scottish  Presbyterian,  and  will  be  re- 
garded by  the  Church  of  Scotland  as  one  of  the  fairest 
jewels  that  she  was  ever  honored  to  add  to  the  Re- 
deemer's crown." 

Now  we  have  an  awful  thing  to  relate.  Before  the 
execution  of  the  Rev.  Hugh  ]McKail,  a  letter  came 
from  King  Charles  H.  forbidding  the  putting  of  any 
more  of  the  prisoners  to  death.  But  Archbishop  Sharp 
and  1  Gurnet  suppressed  the  letter  till  McKail  ccnild  be 
executed.  So,  in  order  that  thev  might  get  this  noble 
3'oung  man  out  (^f  the  way,  they  violated  tlie  most 
sacred- laws  of  God  and  man,  and  became  virtually  his 
murderers. 

It  was  charged  that  these  insurrectionists  were  guilty 
of  treason,  but  when  they  died  in  faith,  and  many  of 
them  in  trans])orls  of  holy  joy,  men  began  to  ask 
whether  they  were  not  rather  heroes  and  martyrs  than 
traitors.  The  feeling  of  indignation  against  the  arch- 
bishops and  their  Council  rose  higher  day  by  day. 


^lORE  TROUBLE.  53 

General  Dalziel  was  now  ordered  to  do  his  worst 
with  the  Covenanters,  and  he  turned  his  l)rntal  soldiers 
loose,  like  wolves,  upon  the  defenceless  men,  women 
and  children  in  the  west  of  Scotland.  Money  was  ex- 
torted from  those  who  had  any ;  multitudes  were 
thrown  into  unwholesome  dungeons;  some  were  shot 
dead  without  trial ;  and  women  infamously  treated. 
Sir  William  Bannatyne,  who  commanded  the  troops  in 
Gallowa3^  surpassed  the  atrocities  of  Dalziel,  and  the 
nameless  horrors  he  practiced  upon  the  women  of  his 
district  can  never  ht  told. 

The  object  of  Archbishop  Sharp  and  the  Council 
was  not  only  to  destroy  the  Covenanters,  but  to  possess 
themselves  also  of  the  estates  of  those  of  them  who  had 
jDroperty.  At  their  instigation,  the  High  Court  of 
Session  decided  that  wealthy  Covenanters  who  had  fled 
to  other  countries  could,  in  their  absence,  be  ^ried,  con- 
demned to  death,  and  their  estates  confiscated.  Taking 
what  they  wanted  themselves,  the  Privy  Councillors 
rewarded  Dalziel  and  his  lieutenant,  Drummond,  for 
their  labors  by  giving  them  the  handsome  estates  of 
Caldwell  and  Sir  Ro1~)ert  Kerr,  of  Kersland. 

\\>  insert  here  a  part  of  a  sketch  of  Sir  Roljert  Kerr, 
■  bv  John  Howie,  in  his  book,  Scots  Worthies: 

'  "Robert  Kerr,  of  Kersland,  being  born  and  educated 
.  in  a  very  religious  family,  began  early  to  discover  more 
than  an  ordinary  zeal  for  religion.  But  the  first  public 
appearance  that  we  find  he  made  for  the  cause  and 
interest  of  true  religion  was  in  the  year  1666,  a1)out 
.  Novem1:)er  26th,  when  he,  Caldwell,  and  some  others 
of   the   Renfrew   gentlemen,    gathered   themselves   to- 


54  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

gether,  and  marched  eastward  to  join  Colonel  Wallace 
and  the  little  handful  who  renewed  the  Covenants  at 
Lanark.  Having  heard  that  General  Dalzicl  was  by 
that  time  got  betwixt  them  and  their  friends,  they  were 
obliged  to  disperse ;  but  this  could  not  escape  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Council ;  for  the  laird  of  Blackstoun,  one 
of  their  own  number,  upon  a  promise  of  pardon,  in- 
fonned  against  the  rest,  and  so  redeemed  his  own  neck 
by  accusing  his  neighbor ;  but  of  this  he  had  nothing  to 
boast  of  afterwards. 

"Kersland  was  after  this  obliged  to  retire  to  Hol- 
land ;  and  the  next  year  he  was  forfeited  in  his  life 
and  fortune,  and  his  estate  given  to  Lieutenant-General 
Drummond,  of  Cromlie,  and  his  lands  in  Beitli  to  Wil- 
liam Blair  of  that  Ilk ;  which  estates  they  unjustly  held 
till  the  Revolution,  when  they  were  restored  to  the  law- 
ful heirs. 

"Returning  from  a  temporary  exile  in  Holland,  he 
was  captured,  and  w'as  kept  nearly  three  months  pris- 
oner in  Edinburgh.  From  thence  was  seiit  to  Dum- 
barton Castle,  where  he  continued  near  a  year  and  a 
half.  Then,  he  was  ordered  to  Aberdeen,  wdiere  he 
was  kept  close  prisoner,  without  fire,  for  three  months 
space  in  the  cold  winter  season.  From  Aberdeen  he 
was  brought  south  to  Stirling  Castle,  where  he  con- 
tinued some  years ;  and  then  was  a  second  time  rettu'ned 
to  Dumbarton,  where  he  continued  till  October,  1677. 
The  Council  then  confined  him  to  Irvine,  and  allowed 
him  some  time  to  transport  himself  and  his  family,  then 
at  Glasgow,  to  that  place. 

''Coming  to  his  family  at  Glasgow^  he  was  visited 


MORE  TROUBLE.  55 

by  many  friends  and  acquaintances;  and  the  same 
night,  convoying  the  Lady  Caldwell  and  her  daughter, 
he  was  taken  by  some  of  tlie  guards,  and  kept  in  the 
guard-house  till  next  day;  when  the  commanding 
officer  would  have  dismissed  him,  but  first  he  behoved 
to  know  the  Archl)ishop's  pleasure,  who  immediately 
ordered  him  a  close  prisoner  in  the  Tolbooth.  The 
Archbishop  took  horse  immediately  for  Edinburgh; 
Lady  Kersland  followed  after,  if  possible,  to  prevent 
misinformation.  Li  the  meantime,  a  fire  breaking  out 
in  Glasgow,  the  Tolbooth  was  in  danger,  and  the  mag- 
istrates refusing  to  let  out  the  prisoners,  the  well- 
affected  people  of  the  town  got  long  ladders  and  set 
the  prisoners  free,  and  Kersland  among  the  rest,  after 
he  had  been  eight  years  prisoner.  After  the  hurry 
was  over,  he  inclined  to  surrender  himself  again  pris- 
oner; but  hearing  from  his  lady  of  the  Archbishop's 
design  against  him,  he  retired  all  that  winter.  In  the 
spring  and  summer  following  he  kept  company  with 
the  persecuted  ministers,  heard  the  Gospel  preached  in 
the  fields,  and  was  at  communions,  particularly  that  at 
Maybole.  About  the  beginning  of  harvest,  1678,  he 
returned  to  Utrecht,  Holland,  where  he  continued  until 
the  day  of  his  death. 

''When  near  his  departure,  his  dear  acquaintance, 
Sir  Robert  Hamilton,  being  with  him,  and  signifying 
to  him  that  he  might  be  spared  as  another  Caleb  to  see 
the  good  land  when  the  storm  was  over,  he,  among  his 
last  words,  said  to  him,  "What  is  man  before  the  Lord? 
yea,  what  is  a  nation?  As  a  drop  of  a  bucket,  or  as 
the  small  dust  of  the  balance;    yea,  less  than  nothing 


56  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

and  vanity.  But  tliis  much  I  can  say  in  humility,  that 
through  free  grace,  I  ha\e  endeavored  to  keep  the  post 
that  God  hath  set  me  at.  These  fourteen  years  I  have 
not  desired  to  hft  the  one  foot,  till  the  Lord  showed 
me  where  to  set  down  the  other."  /Vnd  so,  in  a  few 
minutes  he  finished  his  course  with  joy,  and  fell  asleep 
in  Jesus,  Novemher  14,  1680,  leaving  his  wife  and  five 
children  in  a  strange  land. 

'Tt  were  superfluous  to  insist  here  upon  the  character 
of  the  thrice  renowned  Kerr.  It  is  evident  to  all  he 
uas  a  man  of  great  mind,  far  a1)ove  a  servile  and  mer- 
cenary disposition.  He  was,  for  a  number  of  years, 
hurried  from  place  to  place,  and  guarded  from  prison 
to  i)rison,  but  he  endured  all  this  with  undaunted  cour- 
age. He  lost  a  good  estate  for  the  cause  of  Christ; 
and  though  he  got  not  the  martyr's  crown,  yet  he,  be- 
yond all  doubt,  obtained  the  sufferer's  reward." 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Persecution  and  Retribution. 

OOAIE  of  the  nobles  of  the  Privy  Council,  though 
'^  opposed  to  the  Covenanters,  became  disgusted  with 
Archbishops  Sharp  and  Burnet.  They  felt  degraded 
by  contact  with  such  men,  and  so  they  induced  the 
King  to  write  a  letter  commanding  Sharp  to  confine 
himself  to  his  own  diocese  and  stop  meddling  with 
general  affairs.  The  King  also  ordered  the  army  dis- 
banded, except  the  guards.  When  Burnet,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Glasgow,  heard  it,  he  said,  "Now  that  the 
army  is  disbanded,  the  gospel  will  go  out  of  my  dio- 
cese." He  could  not  keep  his  curates  in  their  places, 
he  thought,  without  soldiers  to  protect  them. 

The  Council,  having  seen  the  folly  of  extreme  meas- 
ures, undertook  to  call  Sir  James  Turner  to  account 
for  his  barbarities.  Turner  proved,  in  his  defence,  that 
he  had  done  no  more  than  he  had  been  ordered  by  the 
Council  to  do ;  but  he  was  deprived  of  his  commission, 
and  Bannatyne  was  sentenced  to  banishment  from  the 
country.  Thus  did  the  Council  make  scape  goats  of 
their  own  agents,  hoping  to  escape  well-merited  odium. 
This  was  but  a  ruse.  There  was  little  abatement  of  the 
cruel  oppression  of  the  Covenanters. 

As  the  people  refused  to  attend  the  services  held  by 
the  curates  of  the  archbishops,  laws  were  passed  for- 
bidding their  attendance  upon  meetings  held  by  their 


58 


THE  BLUE  FLAG. 


pastors  in  the  fields  and  glens  of  the  mountains.  These 
meetinofs  were  called  "conventicles."  Warrants  were 
issued  for  the  arrest  of  all  ministers  and  others  who 
held  conventicles,  and  every  magistrate  was  to  pay  a 
fine  if  a  conventicle  was  held  in  the  district  under  his 


».  ^.' 


A  Scottish  Conventicle. 


jurisdiction.     A  numher  of  ministers  were  socni  ar- 
rested under  this  iniquitous  law. 

About  this  time  a  minister  named  James  Mitchell, 
who  had  been  concerned  in  the  late  insurrection,  who 
had  wandered  about,  enduring  every  sort  of  suffering 
and  hardship,  and  who  had  seen  many  of  his  friends 
perish  on  the  scaffold,  driven  to  desperation,  attempted 
to  kill  Archbishop  Sharp.     As  the  Archbishop  took  his 


PERSECUTION  AND  RETRIBUTION.      59 

seat  in  his  carriage  on  a  certain  day,  Mitchell  fired  on 
him  with  a  pistol,  hut  the  hall  was  received  in  the  arm 
of  the  Bishop  of  Orkney,  who  was  just  entering  the 
vehicle.  A  cry  was  raised  that  a  man  was  killed,  and 
a  crowd  rushed  to  the  spot,  hut  when  a  counter  cry  was 
made  that  "it  was  only  a  bishop,"  the  crowd  quietly 
dispersed.  Mitchell  escaped  and  remained  undetected 
for  several  years.  No  good  people  approved  of  this 
attempt  on  Sharp's  life. 

Sharp  grew  hotter  than  ever  in  his  hatred  of  the 
Covenanters,  and  succeeded  in  getting  the  Council  to 
issue  a  new  edict  giving  power  to  kill  every  man  found 
with  arms  on  his  person,  going  to  or  coming  from  a 
conventicle.  No  form  of  trial  was  necessary,  but  the 
meanest  officer  might  shoot  a  man  dead  upon  the  spot 
if  he  found  him  armed,  and  chose  to  believe  that  he  had 
been  to  a  conventicle  or  was  going  to  attend  one.  This 
was  the  new  "gospel  according  to  Archbishop  Sharp." 
There  was  some  difficulty  in  getting  this  infamous  act 
passed  by  the  Council,  and  it  had  to  be  approved  by 
the  King.  So  Sharp  determined  to  go  to  London  and 
uree  the  Kino-  to  authorize  the  edict.  Before  leaving 
for  London  he  had  occasion  to  return  from  Edinburgh 
to  St.  Andrews.  He  rode  in  his  state  carriage,  drawn 
by  four  horses,  accompanied  by  his  daughter  and  four 
servants  It  happened  that  a  party  of  nine  men,  among 
whom  were  David  Hackston,  of  Rathillet ;  John  Bal- 
four, of  Kinloch,  better  known  as  Burley,  and  James 
p.ussell,  of  Kettle,  met  armed,  near  Cupar,  to  proceed 
in  search  of  cme  W'illiam  Carmichael,  a  drunken  bank- 
rupt magistrate  of  Edinburgh,  who  had  been  appointed 


6o  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

by  Archbishop  Sharp  Deputy  Sheriff  of  the  County  of 
Fife,  for  enforcing  the  laws  ag^ainst  those  who  attended 
conventicles.  This  Carmichael  had  been  beating 
women  and  children  and  tormenting  servant  girls  by 
fixing  burning  matches  between  their  fingers  to  force 
tliem  to  tell  where  their  masters  were  concealed.  The 
party  in  search  of  Carmichael  probably  intended  merely 
to  chastise  him  severely  and  drive  him  out  of  the 
county.  But  they  failed  to  find  Carmichael.  As  they 
were  sitting  on  their  horses,  conversing,  and  about  to 
separate  for  the  day,  a  farmer's  boy  came  running  up 
and  told  them  that  Archbishop  Sharp  was  approaching 
in  his  carriage.  They  had  been  searching  for  a  miser- 
able servant  of  the  Archbishop,  but  here  was  the  Arch- 
bishop himself,  the  author  of  much  of  the  sufferings 
of  the  people  for  the  past  twenty  years.  Balfour  of 
Burley  spoke  first,  'Tt  seems  that  God  has  delivered 
him  into  our  hands."  Russell  replied,  'T  think  we 
have  a  clear  call  from  God  to  go  forth  and  pursue  him." 
They  appointed  Hackston  as  their  leader,  and  he  said: 
"God  is  my  witness  that  I  resolve  to  own  the  cause 
of  Christ  with  my  life  and  fortune,  the  Lord  strength- 
ening me  to  do  so ;  but  to  lie  commander,  I  will  by 
no  means  consent.  This  is  a  matter  (^f  blood,  of  the 
last  conse(|uence  to  this  nation  and  church,  and  requires 
more  deliberation  by  far.  Besides,  there  is  known  a 
private  difference  between  James  Sharp  and  me,  so 
that  what  1  slituild  do  as  commander  in  this  business 
would  seem  to  be  from  personal  revenge,  and  would 
thus  mar  any  public  testimon\'  there  would  be  in  this 
act.     But  as  you  are  determined  to  g\)  forward,  1  shall 


PERSECUTION  AND  RETRIBUTION.      6i 

not  part  from  your  company."  Then  Burley  cried  out, 
''Gentlemen,  follow  me !"  They  all  obeyed,  and  set  off 
in  hot  pursuit.  It  was  noon-time  in  Alay,  and  before 
them  stretched  the  broad  expanse  of  St.  Andrews  Bay, 
while  the  spires  of  the  city  of  St.  Andrews  gleamed 
against  the  sky.  They  saw  the  carriage  of  the  Arch- 
bishop, the  "Primate  of  all  Scotland,"  on  the  crest  of  a 
hill  in  Magus  Moor.  Sharp,  seeing  a  company  of 
horsemen  approaching,  ordered  the  driver  to  hasten. 
He  repeatedly  cried  out,  "Drive!  drive!"  The  pur- 
suers came  up,  and  a  servant  of  the  Archbishop  wdieeled 
round  and  presented  his  carbine,  but  they  knocked  him 
off  his  horse,  and.  the  carriage  horses  went  forward 
at  a  gallop.  Russell,  like  a  panther,  darted  after  his 
prey,  and,  hring  in  at  the  window,  cried  out,  "Judas, 
be  taken!"  Plackston  remained  l)ehin(l.  One  of  the 
pursuers  galloped  ahead  and  stopped  the  horses,  while 
tlie  others  cut  the  traces.  Russell  called,  "Come  out, 
cruel  and  bloody  traitor !"  for  they  wished  to  save  the 
Archbishop's  daughter  from  harm.  Burley  and  Rus- 
sell being  busy  securing  the  servants,  the  others  fired 
into  the  carriage  and  thrust  at  Sharp  with  their  swords. 
They  supposed  that  they  had  accomplished  tlieir  pur- 
pose, and  were  mounting  to  ride  off,  when  they  heard 

,the  daughter  sobl)ing  inside  the  carriage,  and  saying, 
"Oh !  there's  life  yet."  They  returned  antl  found  Sharp 
had  not  been  hurt.  They  commanded  him  to  come 
out,  but  he  refused,  and  begged  for  mercy.  "1  take  God 
for  my  witness,'''  said  Burley,  "whose  cause   I  desire 

.  to  own  in  adhering  to  this  persecuted  gospel,  that  it 
is  not  out  of  hatred  to  thy  person,  nor  for  any  prejudice 


62  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

thou  hast  clone  or  could  do  to  me  that  I  intend  to  take 
thy  life  from  thee  this  day,  but  it  is  because  thou  hast 
been,  and  still  continuest  to  be,  an  avowed  opposer  of 
the  flourishing  of  Christ's  kingdom,  and  murderer  of 
his  saints,  whose  blood  thou  hast  shed  like  w^ater  on 
the  ground."  Russell,  standing  by  the  carriage  door, 
said,  ''Repent,  Judas!  Come  forth!"  The  Archbishop 
could  only  say,  ''Gentlemen,  save  my  life,  and  I  will 
save  yours.''  'T  know,"  replied  the  iron-hearted  Bal- 
four; 'T  know  it  is  not  in  thy  power  either  to  save  or 
kill  us ;  and  I  declare  here  1:)efore  the  Lord  that  it  is 
no  particular  quarrel  of  mine  that  moves  me  to  do 
this;  but  because  thou  hast  been,  and  still  continuest, 
a  traitor  to  Jesus  Christ  and  his  interest  and  cause ;  and 
hast  wrung  thy  hands  in  the  blood  of  his  saints,  not 
only  at  Pentland,  but  several  times  since,  and  hast  per- 
fidiously betrayed  the  Church  of  Scotland.  1  hese 
crimes  and  that  blood  cry  with  a  loud  voice  to  heaven 
for  vengeance,  and  we  are  this  day  sent  by  God  to 
execute  the  same."  He  still  refused  to  ct^ile  out  of  the 
carriage,  and  besought  them  to  have  mercy,  offering 
them  money  if  they  wotild  spare  his  life.  "Thy  money 
perish  with  thee,"  cried  Burley,  and  fired  a  pistol  at 
him.  Russell  stabbed  him  with  a  sword.  He  fell  back, 
crying,  'T  am  gone!"  But  the  wound  was  not  mortal, 
and  a  number  stepped  forward  to  drag  him  cut.  He 
murnnu'cd,  'T  am  gone  already,  what  needs  mm'e ;  but 
I  will  come  out,  for  you  will  save  my  life.''  Pale  and 
staggering,  he  stepped  upon  the  ground.  They  urged 
him  to  pray.  lie  fell  on  his  knees,  beseeching  them 
to  spare  him,  and  ])romising  that  he  wmild  resign  his 


PERSECUTION  AND  RETRIBUTION.      63 

office.  He  turned  towards  Hackston,  who  took  no  part, 
disapproving  of  the  procedure,  and  said,  ''Sir,  I  know 
you  are  a  gentleman;  you  will  protect  me."  Hackston 
felt  that  he  could  not  interfere,  but  said,  "Sir,  I  shall 
never  lay  a  hand  upon  you."  Seeing  that  nothing 
would  induce  the  Archbishop  to  pray,  they  fired  upon 
him.  and  he  fell  back  as  dead.  But  seeing  that  he  was 
still  alive,  the  party  drew  their  swords,  and  held  them 
aloft,  gleaming  in  the  air.  Seeing  this.  Sharp  uttered 
a  cry  of  terror.  His  daughter  sprang  from  the  carriage 
and  threw  herself  between  her  father  and  his  enemies, 
and  Hackston  rushed  forward,  crying,  "Spare,  spare 
these  gray  hairs!"  But  it  was  too  late;  the  flashing 
swords  were  buried  in  the  Archbishop's  body,  and  Rus- 
sell said,  ''He  is  dead  now,"  and,  turning  to  the  fright- 
ened servants  he  added,  "Go,  take  up  your  priest  T 
This  was  the  tragedy  of  Magus  Moor,  May  2,  1679. 

The  Covenanters  as  a  mass  deplored  and  condemned 
this  killing  of  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  l:)eliev- 
ing  that  he  should  have  been  left  to  be  dealt  with  In' 
the  justice  of  God,  and  in  a  legal  way,  when  l)etter 
times  came,  for  two  wrongs  do  not  make  a  right ;  yet 
no  man  can  sav  that  he  did  not  deserve  his  dv.om. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

A  Bloody  Story  —  Battles  of  Drumclog  and 
BoTHWELL  Brig. 

^  I  '^HE  King  approved  the  act  carried  by  Sharp  before 
^  the  Privy  Council,  and  returned  it  signed,  thus 
authorizing  judges  not  only,  but  all  officers,  even  the 
meanest  sergeant,  "to  proceed  against  all  such  who  go 
with  arms  to  those  field  meetings,  as  traitors,"  and 
that  meant  to  kill  all  who  attended  the  "conventicles." 
It  amounted  to  declaring  the  penalty  of  death  against 
all  the  Covenanters  who  attended  religious  services,  for 
conventicles  were  the  only  services  they  could  con- 
scientiously attend,  and  only  in  this  way  ould  they 
hear  the  gospel,  or  receive,  for  themselves  and  their 
children,  the  sacraments  of  the  church  of  God.  In 
attending  the  ci^nventicles  they  were  constantly  liable 
to  attacks  from  the  sokhery,  and  they  carried  weapons 
purely  f(jr  the  defence  of  themselves  and  their  families. 
It  became  necessary  now  for  the  Covenanters  to  hold, 
not  small  detached  meetings,  but  large  g'atherings,  with 
such  a  multitutle  and  such  preparations  for  defence 
tliat  they  might  hope  for  some  degree  of  safety.  So  a 
conventicle  became  a  regular  military  encampment,  and 
where  the  people  worship])C(l,  it  had  to  be  with  an 
armed  guard  and  i)ickets  on  the  watch,  for  they  came 
])re])ared  to  die  for  their  faith.  This  was  \iriually 
preparation  for  war. 


A  BLOODY  STORY.  65 

The  Covenanters,  unfortunately,  fell  under  the  lead- 
ership of  a  very  unwise  man,  Rol^ert  Hamilton,  utterly 
unfit  to  g'uide  their  movements.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  g-overnment  secured,  as  the  head  of  its  forces 
against  the  Covenanters,  Sir  James  Graham,  of  Claver- 
house,  a  man  of  great  al^ilit}^  and  skiH,  l)ut  of  cruel  and 
unflinching  disposition.  His  name  soon  came  to  he 
associated  with  the  Ijitterest  experiences  of  the  suffer- 
ing people  of  God.  He  hated  the  Covenanters,  and 
called  them  "rogues,"  "villains"  and  "suffering  sin- 
ners." The  name  of  Claverhouse  has  gone  into  history 
covered  with  well-merited  and  undying  infamy. 

A  great  and  famous  conflict  soon  occurred,  on  Sab- 
bath morning,  June  i,  1679,  at  Drumclog.  The  cove- 
nanting multitudes  had  assembled  there  for  worship 
from  all  over  the  West  of  Scotland.  Robert  Hamilton 
was  present  with  a  body  of  armed  men  to  protect  them. 
Mr.  Thomas  Douglass,  the  preacher  of  the  day,  was 
just  beginning  his  sermon,  when  the  watchman  on  a 
neighboring  hill  fired  the  signal  gun,  which  meant  that 
the  enemy  were  at  liand.  Claverhouse  and  his  soldiers 
were  approaching  from  the  east.  The  women,  children 
and  unarmed  men  were  hurried  away,  and  the  armed 
'■•  Covenanters  prepared  for  the  shock  of  battle  and  fell 
into  ranks,  a  body  of  stern  and  fearless  warriors,  ready 
to  shed  the  last  drop  of  their  blood  to  defend  their 
homes  and  their  right  to  worship  God  according  to 
their  own  consciences.  They  marched  in  solemn  ma- 
jesty  down  the  liill  to  meet  the  army  of  Claverhouse, 
.singing  as  they  went : 


66  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

"In  Jndah's  land  God  is  well  known, 
His  name's  in  Israel  great; 
In  Salem  is  his  tabernacle, 
In  Sion  is  his  seat. 

"These  arrows  of  the  bow  he  brake, 
The  shield,  the  sword,  the  war ; 
More  glorious  thou  than  hills  of  prey. 
More  excellent  art  far. 

"Those  that  were  stout  of  heart  are  spoiled, 

They  slept  their  sleep  outright ; 
And  none  of  those  their  hands  did  find. 
That  were  the  men  of  might. 

"When  thy  rebuke,  O  Jacob's  God ! 
Had  forth  against  them  passed, 
Their  horsemen  and  their  chariots  both 
Were  in  a  dead  sleep  cast." 

This  Psalm,  sung  to  the  tune  "^Martyrs,"  was  their 
martial  music  as  they  advanced  to  meet  the  foe.  At 
the  Swamps  of  Drumclog  they  met  Claverhouse,  and 
his  troops  fired  the  first  round.  Li  an  instant  the  Cove- 
nanters raised  their  carbines  and  fired,  and  when  the 
smoke  cleared  away  many  a  saddle  was  seen  to  be 
empty  from  the  well-directed  shot  of  the  men  of  the 
moors.  Claverhouse  now  charged  the  Covenanters, 
and  they,  on  their  part,  rushed  forward  to  hand-to- 
hand  conflict,  with  Burley  at  the  head  of  the  horsemen 
and  Cleland  leading  those  on  foot.  The  Covenanters 
splashed  across  the  mire  of  the  morass,  WMth  many  of 
their  women  walking  at  their  side,  to  carry  off  the 
wounded  to  the  rear,  and  do  all  they  could  for  their 
relief.  It  was  an  awful  contest,  this  meeting  of  the 
forces  of  Charles  IL,  the  perjured  King,  and  those  who 


A  BLOODY  STORY.  67 

represented  the  crown  rights  of  Christ  in  his  own 
church,  as  well  as  the  political  liberty  of  Scotland.  It 
w^as  liberty  against  tyranny,  truth  against  error,  and 
the  best  conscience,  brain,  bone  and  brawn  of  Scotland 
against  the  hirelings  of  the  King.  The  royal  troops 
were  staggered  by  the  furious  onset  of  the  Covenanters, 
and  reeled  like  drunken  men.  Then  they  turned  and 
fled,  the  Covenanter  horsemen  pursuing.  There  were 
many  killed  among  the  King's  troops,  and  on  the  side 
of  the  Covenanters  one  was  killed  on  the  field  and  five 
mortally  w^ounded,  all  of  whom  died  soon  afterwards. 
One  of  these  was  William  Daniel,  one  who  took  part 
in  the  tragedy  of  Magus  Moor. 

The  victory  of  Drumclog  gave  new  spirit  to  the  op- 
pressed people,  and  many  came  from  all  quarters  to 
join  the  Covenanters'  army.  But  their  self-appointed 
leader,  Hamilton,  had  no  qualifications  for  handling 
troops.  They  were  not  drilled,  nor  even  divided  into 
regiments  and  companies,  nor  were  proper  supplies  and 
munitions  of  war  provided  for  the  soldiers.  Still  they 
held  together,  and  finally  encamped  in  a  moor  near 
Bothwell  Brig,  or  bridge,  about  five  thousand  strong. 
The  government  forces  amounted  to  fifteen  thousand, 

■   and  were  under  the  command  of  the  Duke  of  Mon- 
^  mouth.     He  had  been  selected  because  of  his  mild  and 

.  gentle  disposition,  and  instructed  that  he  should  allow 
no  unnecessary  cruelties  to  be  inflicted  upon  the  Cove- 
nanters. A  feeling  had  gained  ground  at  court,  in 
London,  that  it  would  be  dangerous  to  the  country  at 

.large,  and  to  the  very  throne  itself,  to  persist  in  the 
fierce  and  unrelenting  persecutions  which  many  consid- 


68  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

ered  a  disgrace  to  the  nation.  Still,  ]\Ionmoiith  must 
subdue  the  rebels  in  Scotland,  and  here  at  Bcthwell 
Brig  he  was  face  to  face  with  them.  About  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Sabbath,  June  22.  1679, 
the  royal  troo])s  attacked  three  hundred  Covenanters, 
who  were  set  to  defend  the  bridge.  The  Covenanters 
stood  tlieir  ground  and  returned  the  fire  of  the  enemy. 
At  this  juncture  the  royalist  commander  sounded  a 
bugle  for  a  parley,  with  a  \'iew  to  the  Covenanters  sur- 
rendering without  a  battle.  The  result  of  the  parley 
was  that  the  Covenanters  were  promised  if  they  would 
surrender  they  should  be  mercifully  dealt  with.  This 
vague  offer  was  declined ;  then  the  battle  began  in 
earnest,  and  the  gallant  three  hundred  defenders  of  the 
l)ridge,  with  their  muskets  and  one  lone  cannon,  re~ 
ceived  the  charge  of  the  King's  soldiers.  They  drove 
the  royalists  back,  but  not  being  properlv  supported 
from  the  rear,  they  could  not  pursue  the  enemy.  So 
they  remained  on  the  bridge,  awaiting  a  second  attack. 
For  three  hoiu*s  they  held  the  bridge  ag'ainst  over- 
whelming numbers,  and  without  reinforcements  from 
the  main  body  of  their  comrades.  At  length  their 
ammunition  gave  ottt  and  they  had  to  retire.  ]\b)n- 
mouth's  army  slmvly  passed  over  the  bridge,  and 
formed  after  they  had  reached  the  other  side.  At  this 
juncture  a  cry  was  raised  among  the  Covenanters  that 
their  leaders  had  iled,  and,  alas!  it  was  true,  except 
that  Hackston  remained  at  the  head  of  his  troop  of 
horsemen.  But  disorder  prevailed,  and  there  was  no- 
thing for  the  Covenanters,  who  were  ni>w  without 
commanders,  Init  ilight..     Hackston  acted  \ery  nobly, 


> 

r 

M 

o 

tx! 
O 

■ffi 


■5 
o 
w 


70  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

and  defended  the  retreating  Covenanters  as  best  he 
could.  The  battle  was  lost,  and  the  royal  army,  which 
had  behaved  with  calmness  heretofore,  now  burst  forth 
upon  the  fugitive  Covenanters  and  cut  them  to  pieces 
everywhere.  Xo  prisoners  were  taken,  but  all  who 
were  overtaken  were  put  to  the  sword.  Twelve  hun- 
dred Covenanters,  however,  seeing  themselves  sur- 
rounded and  at  the  mercy  of  their  foes,  surrendered, 
and  the  subordinate  officers  and  the  soldiers  would 
have  massacred  every  one  of  them  if  [Monmouth  had 
not  issued  a  command  to  stop  killing. 

After  ^lonmouth  left  the  heitl,  liowcver,  the  sold'crs 
returned  to  their  i-ari)arities.  Tlie  prisoners  v.cre 
stripped  almost  naked  and  ordered  to  lie  tlat  on  the 
ground,  and  if  any  man  raised  his  head  he  was  shc^t  like 
a  dog.  The  women  who  came  tu  help  the  woiuided 
by  bringing  water  had  their  pitchers  broken,  and  were 
subjected  to  every  kind  oi  insult. 

When  Monmouth  returned  to  court,  James,  the  Duke 
of  York,  the  King's  brother,  who  wall  be  heard  from 
at  length  hereafter,  twitted  him  for  his  leniency  to  the 
rebels,  and  the  King  himself,  as  heartless  as  his  brother, 
said,  "If  I  had  ])een  present  there  shotild  have  been 
no  trotible  about  priscniers,"  meaning  that  he  would 
have  killed  them  all.  The  Duke  of  Monmouth  replied, 
"If  that  was  what  yc)u  wished,  vou  should  not  have  sent 
me,  but  a  butcher ^ 

As  a  result,  doubtless  (^f  ]\Ionmouth's  counsels,  only 
two  men  were  executed  on  account  of  Bothwell  Bridge. 
These  were  two  ministers,  named  Kid  and  King.  The 
multitude  of  prisoners  taken  at  Bothwell  fared  cruelly. 


A  BLOODY  STORY.  71 

Their  necessary  wants  were  left  unprovided  for,  and 
any  charitably  disposed  persons  who  offered  them  food 
and  water  on  their  weary  march  to  Edinburgh  were 
themselves  arrested  and  dragged  along  with  the  others. 
At  Edinburgh  the  prisons  were  packed,  but  as  they 
could  not  contain  all  the  prisoners,  the  remainder  were 


^\???M'"^^ 


1^  *•  ■^t 


^ki, 


^<-  .    V  -." 


Covenanters'  Prison,  Greyfriars  Churchyard. 

confined  within  the  walls  of  old  Greyfriars  churchyard, 
V   where  guards  watched  over  them  day  and  night.    They 

•were  allowed  no  shelter  to  protect  them  from  sun  (jr 

storm,  nor  were  they  given  sufficient  food. 

Some  of  the  prisoners,  deeming  their  cause  hopeless, 

took  an  oath  to  make  no  further  resistance,  and  were 
•    released.     A  few  made  their  escape  over  the  wall.     At 

length,  from  all  causes,  including  deaths  from  disease, 
'  their  numbers  were  reduced  to  two  hundred  and  fifty. 

On  a  cold  morning,   without  any  previous  warning, 


7^ 


THE  BLUE  FLAG. 


these  were  marched  out  of  the  churchyard  and  on  l3oard 
a  vessel,  to  be  sent  and  sold  as  slaves  hi  the  planta- 
tions of  America.  These  two  hundred  and  fifty  were 
crowded  into  a  space  below  deck  not  large  enough  for 
one  hundred,  and  many  of  them  sick  almost  unto  death. 
Numbers  fainted  from  lack  of  air.  They  were  gi\'en 
little  food,  less  water,  and  their  sufferings  were  great 
beyond   description.      The   ship    was   overtaken   by   a 


V?^ 


Shipwreck  at  Maul  Head,  Orkneys. 


violent  storm  off  the  coast  of  Orkney,  and  the  captain 
had  to  run  her  near  shore  and  cast  anchor.  Late  at 
night  she  was  dashed  against  the  rocks,  and  broke 
almost  in  two.  l^he  prisoners  begged  to  l)e  allowed 
to  escape  from  impending  death,  ])ut  the  hatches  were 
chained  down  over  them,  and  they  were  left  to  perish, 
while  the  sailors  made  their  way  to  the  shore.  A  few 
of  the  prisoners  evScaped  when  the  vessel  went  to  pieces, 
Imt  at  least  two  hundred  ])crished  in  the  sea.     Thus 


A  BLOODY  STORY.  jz 

they  escaped  to  the  haven  of  rest  on  high,  from  a  world 
that  was  not  worthy  of  them. 

This  is  the  way  Charles  II.  treated  his  suhjects  in 
Scotland,  who  wished  him  no  evil,  but  would  have 
defended  his  crown  and  person  with  their  lives,  pro- 
vided only  that  they  might  have  liberty  to  worship  God 
according  to  their  consciences,  as  they  understood  the 
Scriptures.  And  while  these  things  were  going  on  in 
Scotland,  the  King,  in  London,  was  making  merry 
with  women  and  wine,  leading  a  life  of  most  shameful 
debatichery. 

The  rising  of  the  people  in  Scotland,  so  signally 
defeated  at  Bothwell  Ih'idge,  seemed  to  put  an  end  to 
hope;  Init  it  was  not  so.  It  was  the  will  of  God  that 
the  Covenanters  should  not  win  by  arms,  hut  by  suffer- 
ing. He  zi'as  going  to  give  them  victory  at  last,  zvhich 
they  were  to  attain,  not  by  the  sword,  but  by  zuay  of 
the  cross. 


CHAPTER  \  111. 
Defiance  and  Martyrdom. 

^T^HE  thorough  policing  of  the  country  Ijy  armed 
-■-  bands  of  the  King's  troops  suppressed  the  open 
assemblies  of  the  Covenanters  to  a  large  extent,  and 
many,  especially  of  those  who  had  property  interests 
at  stake,  began  to  feel  that  it  was  wise  to  do  nothing 
and  wait  for  better  days.  Some  ministers  consented 
to  resume  their  churches  under  an  "Act  of  Indulgence," 
which  bound  them  to  recognize  the  autliDrity  of  the 
bishops  and  archbishops  only  in  a  general  way,  but 
excused  them  from  attending  the  diocesan  meetings. 
The  object  of  this  policy  was  to  divide  the  Covenanters 
into  two  opposing  parties,  and  it  was  in  a  measure  suc- 
cessful. There  were  many  ministers,  however,  who 
refused  any  sort  of  submission,  and  among  the  middle 
class  of  the  people  particularly  the  covenanting  spirit 
continued  strong.  Those  who  thus  held  out  were  be- 
ginning to  feel  that  the  time  was  at  hand  to  decline 
to  acknowledge  the  King's  authoritv  o\er  the  church 
not  only,  but  also  to  refuse  all  allegiance  to  a  monarch 
who  had  forfeited  his  title  to  their  l(n'alty  and  respect. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  the  end,  though  the  end  was 
yet  far  off.  Heretofore  the  Cm-enanters  had  loudly 
proclaimed  their  readiness  to  obe)^  the  King  in  all 
things  excejn  what  pertained  to  religion ;    now  they 


DEFIANCE  AND  MARTYRDOM.  75 

were  beginning  to  feel  that  they  could  obey  him  in 
nothing. 

The  first  pul^lic  utterance  of  this  kind  was  called  the 
^'Queensferry  Paper,"  a  document  prepared  by  an  old 
minister,  Donald  Cargill,  at  Queensferry.  It  declared 
''We  do  reject  the  King  and  those  associated  with  him 
in  the  government  .  .  .  from  being-  our  King  and 
rulers,  .  .  .  loeing  no  more  bound  to  them,  they 
having  altered  and  destroyed  the  Lord's  established 
religion,  overturned  the  fundamental  and  established 
laws  of  the  kingdom,  taken  away  altogether  Christ's 
church  government,  and  changed  the  civil  government 
of  this  land,  which  was  by  a  King  and  free  Parliament, 
into  tyranny.  We  bind  and  oblige  ourselves  to  defend 
ourselves,  and  one  another,  in  our 
worshipping  of  God,  and  in  our 
natural,  civil,  and  divine  rights  and 
liberties,  till  we  shall  overcome,  or 
send  them  down  under  debate  to 
posterity,  that  they  may  begin 
where  we  end." 

Thus  old  Donald  Cargill  sounded 
the  first  note  of  defiance,   which, 

.  though  not  heard  by  many  at  first,  0^^,^,^  cargiii. 

'  when  afterwards  it  was  taken  up 
by   Richard   Cameron,   his   son   in   the  gospel,    rever- 
berated through  the  three  kingdoms  like  the  blast  of  a 
trumpet. 

vRichard  Cameron,  who  became  one  of  the  most 
famous  of  the  Covenanters,  was  at  first  a  school  teacher 
under  a  curate  in  Falkland:    1)ut  after  attending  some 


76  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

field  conventicles,  he  changed  his  views,  and  adopted 
those  of  the  strictest  Covenanters.  Mr.  John  Welsh, 
whose  services  he  attended,  urged  him  to  accept  license 
as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel,  but  he  shrank. back  from 
the  responsibility.  At  length  he  consented  and  was 
licensed.  He  protested  constantly  against  the  cruel 
measures  of  the  government  not  only,  but  also  against 
the  course  of  those  ministers  who  had  taken  pastoral 
charges  under  the  King's  ''Proclamation  of  Lidul- 
gence."  After  repeated  requests  that  he  suppress  his 
protestations,  he  did  for  a  time  consent  to  be  silent. 
But  he  soon  came  to  feel  that  this  temporary  silence 
was  sinful,  and  in  an  agony  of  soul  he  went  away  to 
Holland  to  consult  certain  exiled  Covenanter  leaders 
who  had  taken  refuge  there.  He  was  ordained  at  Rot- 
terdam, in  the  church  of  the  Scottish  exiles,  at  the 
hands  of  A[r.  McWard  and  Mr.  Brown,  assisted  by  an 
eminent  Dutch  divine  named  Kooleman.  •  When  the 
other  two  had  lifted  their  hands  from  the  head  of  the 
young  candidate,  ]\Ir.  McWard  still  kept  his  hand  upon 
him,  and  said,  "Behold,  all  ye  spectators,  here  is  the 
head  of  a  faithful  minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall 
lose  the  same  f(M'  his  Master's  sake,  and  it  shall  be  set 
U])  before  the  sun  and  moon,  in  view  of  the  world." 

With  this  ])rophetic  commission,  Richard  Cameron 
returned  to  Scotland,  t(^  contend  for  the  cnnvn-rights 
of  Jesus  Christ  in  his  own  kingdom. 

Here  was  a  standard-bearer  wIk^  feared  not  man, 
who  was  a  true  soldier  of  Christ,  and  who  was  going 
to  live  in  constant  readiness  to  die  for  his  sake.     To 


DEFIANCE  AND  MARTYRDOM.  -^j 

him  the  gospel  was  a  hving  thing,  the  very  power  of 
God,  and  its  doctrines  the  (^nly  things  worth  contend- 
ing for.  The  people  rallied  io  him  in  multitudes.  He 
was  a  veritable  John  the  Baptist,  "a  voice  crying  in 
the  wilderness,  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make 
his  paths  straight.''  Imagine  this  noble  young  preacher, 
standing  upon  a  rock  in  a  Scotch  m  )or,  preaching  to 
thousands  with  fiery  eloquence,  while  they  swayed 
under  his  impassioned  words  like  trees  before  the  l^last. 
Yonder  on  the  hill  stands  a  grim  sentinel,  while  about 
the  preacher  crowd  masses  of  men,  with  lips  apart,  eyes 
aflame,  and  their  hands  on  the  hilts  of  their  swords. 

In  one  of  his  sermons  he  said :  ''The  most  part  of 
the  land  cry  out,  'We  will  have  no  other  King  but 
Csesar,  no  other  King  but  King  Charles.'  We  must 
cry  out,  'We  will  have  no  other  King  but  Christ.' 
.  .  .  If  you  would  have  God  before  you,  you  must 
ctit  off  this  King,  and  these  magistrates,  and  make  able 
men  to  be  rulers ;  men  endued  with  suitable  qualifica- 
tions, both  of  body  and  mind.  If  ever  ye  see  good 
days  in  Scotland  without  disowning  the  present  King, 
then  believe  me  no  more." 

Of  course,  to  utter  words  like  these  was  all  a  man's 
.  life  was  worth  at  that  time.  It  was  regarded  as 
treason,  but  it  was  not ;  it  was  revolution.  Wlien 
rulers  cruelly  and  persistently  oi)press  their  people, 
especially  in  matters  that  pertain  to  their  duty  to  God, 
it  is  a  duty  which  the  people  owe  to  themselves  and 
their  descendants  to  disobey  their  rulers.  The  people 
have  a  right  to  refuse  to  obey  a  wicked  government. 


78  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

and  revolution  is  a  course  which  the}^  can  fall  back 
upon  when  all  else  fails.  It  is  the  people's  appeal  to 
God.  Richard  Cameron  was  callin.g;-  upon  the  people 
to  depose  a  King  who  would  kill  men  for  worshipping 
God  according  to  their  consciences. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Sanquhar. 

T^  OWN  in  the  Southwest  of  Scotland,  hi  Dumfries- 
^^  shire,  is  the  Httle  village  of  Sanquhar,  situated 
in  a  green  valley  between  two  ranges  of  high  moun- 
tains. The  little  river  Nith  winds  through  this  valley 
on  its  wav  to  the  sea.     This  is  one  of  the  most  pic- 


Sanquhar,  and  Ruins  of  Sanquhar  Castle. 

turesque  and  romantic  places  in  Scotland,  and  has 
always  been  associated  with  the  history  of  the  Cove- 
nanters. It  was  a  centre  and  stronghold  of  their  faith, 
and  in  the  adjacent  glens  of  the  mountains  they  often 
/took  refuge  from  their  enemies;  and  many  a  time  the 
moors  among  those  lonely  hills  reverberated  with  psalm 


8o  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

or  sennon  as  the  peoi)]e,   in   secret  conventicle,   wor- 
shipped God  under  the  canopy  of  heaven. 

Into  the  villao'e  of  Sanquhar  one  morning,  the  22nd 
of  June,  1680,  rode  a  company  of  twenty  armed  horse- 
men, proceechng-  s(^lemnly  up  the  main  street,  until  they 
came  to  the  market  cross.  Two  of  them  dismounted 
and  took  their  places  in  front  of  the  cross,  while  the 
others  formed  a  circle  around  them.  The  people  of  the 
town  came  Hc^king  to  the  spot  to  see  what  was  going 
to  take  place.  The  two  men  standing  at  the  cross  were 
Richard  Camercni  and  his  brother  Michael,  \\diile  the 
people  waited  in  breathless  expectation,  a  ])salm  was 
sung  by  the  strange  horsemen,  and  a  prayer  was 
offered.  Then  Michael  Cameron  read  from  a  paper 
which  they  had  brought  a  Declaration  written  by  his 
brother  Richard.  It  was  what  became  famous  as  the 
^'Sanquhar  Declaration'':  "We  do  by  these  presents 
disown  Charles  Stuart,  that  has  been  reigning,  or 
rather  tyrannizing,  on  the  throne  of  Britain  these  years 
bygone,  as  having  any  right,  title  or  interest  in  the 
crown  of  Scotland,  for  government,  as  forfeited  several 
years  since,  by  his  perjury  and  breach  of  Covenant, 
both  to  God  and  his  kirk  (church),  by  his  tyranny  and 
breach  of  all  leges  regnandi  (the  very  essentials  of  gov- 
ernment) in  matters  civil.  .  .  .  We  do  declare  war 
with  such  a  tyrant  and  usurper,  and  all  the  men  of  his 
practices.  .  .  .  And  we  hope,  after  this,  none  will 
blame  us  for  or  offend  at  our  rewarding  those  that 
are  against  us,  as  they  have  done  to  us,  as  the  Lord 
gives  us  opportunity."  This  was  followed  by  a 
prayer,   and   the   twenty   grim   horsemen   slowly   and 


SAXOUHAR. 


8i 


silent!}^  rode  away  into  the  hills  from  which  they  had 
come. 

This  was  a  memorable  scene,  and  great  consequences 
followed.  It  was  the  first  organized  defiance  of  the 
King,  and  was,  in  effect,  the  beginning  of  that  great 
revolution  which,  eight  years  afterwards,  swept  the 
wicked  Stuarts  from  the  thrones  of  England  and  Scot- 
land forever. 

On  the  spot  where  the  Sanquhar  Declaration  was 
made  now  stands  a  monument  to  commemorate  that 
significant  event. 

Richard  Cameron  knew  the 
danger  of  such  a  proceeding, 
and  was  prepared  to  accept  the 
consequences  to  himself,  what- 
ever they  might  be.  His  imme- 
diate followers,  and  those  who 
sympathized  with  him  among 
the  Covenanters,  soon  came  to 
be  called  the  "Cameronians," 
and   until    the   end   came,    thev 


Richard  Cameron. 


henceforth     led     the     struggle 


against  the  tyranny  of  the  King.     Cameron  felt  that 
in  making  this  "Declaration"  his  work  was  done,  and 
liis  own   time   remaining   would   be   short.      He   also 
.•  believed  with  absolute  confidence  that  the  hour  of  Scot- 
land's deliverance  was  not  far  off.     But  believinof  that 
a  violent  death  awaited  him  in  the  near  future,  he  was 
cahii,  and  declared  that  he  was  safe  under  the  over- 
'  shadowing  wings  of  God  until  his  appointed  hour. 
His  last  sermon,  preached  in  Avondale,  not  far  from 


S2  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

tlie  battlefield  of  Druinclog,  was  on  the  text.  **Be  still 
and  know  that  I  am  God;  I  will  be  exalted  among  the 
heathen;  1  will  be  exalted  in  the  earth."  One  writer 
says  this  sermon  was  "like  (/  ball  of  tire,  though  it  con- 
tained passages  of  hymn-like  sweetness  and  beauty." 
In  one  passage  he  said,  "\\'e  are  not  withered  leaves, 
blown  about  by  the  breath  of  chance,  but  are  immortal 
spirits  under  the  guidance  of  a  Being  all-wise  and  all- 
gracious." 

The  last  night  of  Richard  Cameron's  life  was  spent 
under  the  hospitable  roof  of  William  Mitchell,  of 
]\Ieadowhead,  on  the  \A  ater  of  x\yr.  The  next  morn- 
ing, July  22,  1680,  the  woman  of  the  house  brought 
him  water  for  his  toilet.  Having  washed  his  h.ands,  he 
looked  at  them,  and  laid  them  on  his  face,  saying,  "This 
is  their  last  washing.  I  have  need  to  make  them  clean, 
for  there  arc  many  to  see  them.  At  this  the  old  mother 
of  her  who  brought  the  water  began  to  weep.  "Weep 
not  for  me,"  he  said,  "but  for  yourself  and  yours;  for 
melancholy,  sorrowful  and  weary  days  are- before  you." 

Mr.  Cameron  had  been,  for  a  short  time,  attended 
by  a  body  of  over  sixty  men,  poorly  armed,  twenty- 
three  of  them  horsemen  and  fortv  on  foot.  Among 
them  were  ^Vlichael  Cameron,  Hackston  of  Rothillet, 
and  James  Gray  of  Chryston.  Having  heard  that  a 
party  of  royal  dragoons  were  in  search  of  them,  they 
lay  all  night  in  a  dismal  morass,  which  stretched  for 
miles,  between  Cumnock  and  ^luirkirk.  Li  the  after- 
noon, at  Airdsm(3ss,  a  royal  troop  of  dragoons  was  seen 
riding  furiously  towards  them.  There  was  no  escape, 
and  the  Cameronians  ])repared  to  defend  themselves 


SANQUHAR.  S^ 

as  best  they  could.  Ricliard  Cameron  offered  a  short 
prayer,  while  his  friends  stood  round  him,  one  of  his 
petitions,  uttered  three  times,  being-,  "Lord,  spare  the 
green  and  take  the  ripe!"  After  the  "Amen,"  he 
turned  to  his  l)rother  Michael,  and  said,  "Now,  let  us 
fight  it  out  to  the  last.  This  is  the  day  I  have  longed 
for,  and  the  day  that  I  have  prayed  for,  to  die  fighting 
against  our  Lcjrd's  avowed  enemies.  This  is  the  da^j 
for  the  ero-cvii/'  Then,  turning-  to  his  little  band,  he 
said,  "Be  encouraged,  all  of  you,  to  fight  it  out  vali- 
antly; for  all  of  you  that  fall  this  day  I  see  heaven's 
gates  open  to  receive  you." 

They  then  quickly  formed  on  a  knoll  surrounded  by 
bogs  and  pools  of  water.  On  the  right  were  drawn  up 
eight  horsemen,  commanded  by  Cameron,  and  on  the 
left  the  remainder  of  the  horse,  under  Hackston,  while 
the  forty  footmen  were  in  tlie  centre.  Some  of  the 
dragoons  made  a  flank  movement,  while  the  rest  rode 
forward  in  a  body.  The  Cameronians  fired  first,  and 
killed  several  of  the  enemy,  and  broke  their  line.  The 
Cameronians  fought  desperately.  Young  Gray  per- 
formed prodigies  of  valor,  and  the  dragoons  admitted 
afterwards,  "It  was  Gray  who  mauled  us  most."   Hack- 

.'•  ston,  with  his  great  strength  and  courage,  fought  his 
^way  clear  through  the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  and  came 

.  out  at  the  rear.  He  fought  bravely  on  the  morass, 
sometimes  pursuing,  and  again  pursued.  At  length  his 
horse  became  fast  in  the  bog,  and  so  did  that  of  his 
immediate  antagonist,  David  Ramsay,  the  foremost  of 

/the  dragoons.  A  dragoon  approached  from  the  rear 
and  struck  Hackston  on  the  head,  woundino-  him  se- 


84  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

verely.  He  fell  to  the  ground,  and  surrendered  him- 
self to  Ramsay,  who  was  "one  of  his  acquaintance," 
now  on  the  opposing-  side.  The  Covenanters,  or  those 
that  remained  of  them,  were  scattered,  and  many  taken 
prisoners.  Richard  Cameron  was  killed,  and  his  head 
and  hands  cut  off  hy  Robert  Murray,  and  carried  to 
Edinburgh.  "There,"  he  said,  when  he  gave  them  to 
the  Council,  "there  are  the  head  and  hands  of  a  man 
who  lived  praying  and  preaching,  and  died  praying 
and  fighting."  He  fought  in  vain,  but  his  prayers  for 
Scotland  were  answered  after  a  time. 

Poor  old  Donald  Cargill,  the  friend  and  spiritual 
father  of  Richard  Cameron,  was  but  a  few  days  in 
following  him  to  his  reward  and  his  crown.  He  was 
hanged  at  the  market  cross  of  Edinburgh,  on  July  i-j , 
1 68 1,  and  his  head  placed  above  the  gate  called  the 
''Netherbow  Port"  of  the  city.  \Mien  his  condemna- 
tion was  announced  by  the  sound  of  a  trumpet,  he  said, 
"This  is  a  wearying  sound,  but  the  sound  of  the  last 
trumpet  will  be  joyful  to  me,  and  all  that  will  be  found 
leaning  on  Christ's  righteousness."  On  the  gallows  he 
said:  "God  will  return  gloriously  to  Scotland;  there- 
fore, be  ye  not  discouraged  at  the  way  of  Christ,  and 
the  cause  for  which  1  lay  down  my  life  and  stej)  into 
eternity,  where  my  soul  shall  be  as  full  of  him  as 
it  can  desire  to  be.  And  now  this  is  the  sweetest  and 
most  glorious  day  that  ever  mine  eyes  did  see.  Fare- 
well, all  relations  and  friends  in  Christ:  farewell,  ac- 
quaintances and  earthly  enjoyment:  farewell,  reading, 
preaching,  praying  and  believing,,  wanderings,  reproach 
and    sufferings.      \\'elcome.    Father,    Son    and    Hv)ly 


NETHERBOW  PORT,   OR  (lATE  OF  EDINBURGH, 

East  side,  about  1700  In  the  "  Flodden  Wall,"  built  in  1513,  there  were  six  prin- 
cipal gates ;  the  most  important  was  the  Netherbow  Port,  which  separated  the 
city  from  the  Burgh  of  Canongate,  and  was  the  principal  entrance  from  the  east, 
especially  London  and  Leith.  It  stood  at  the  conjunction  of  Leith  Wynd  and  St. 
Mary's  Wynd,  and  divided  the  High  Street  from  Canongate. 


86  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

!  Ghost;  into  thy 'hands  I  commit  my  spirit."  These 
•  were  his  last  words,  and  the  old  saint  of  God  was  then 
1  hanged  like  a  common  criminal ;  but  there  was  re- 
!  joicing  in  heaven  wdien  he  reached  home. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Two  Stars  of  the  First  AIagnitude^James  Ren- 
wick  AND  Robert  Baillie. 

O  TANDING  among  the  crowd  that  witnessed  the 
^^  execution  of  old  Donald  Cargill,  July  27,  1681, 
was  a  youth  of  nineteen,  named  James  Renwick.  He 
was  small  of  stature,  with  a  ruddy  countenance,  and 
is  said  to  have  had  "a  sweet,  engaging  look."  He  was 
of  Minnieheave,  in  Nithsdale,  where  he  was  born,  the 
son  of  an  honest  weaver,  in  1662.  Beholding  the  mar- 
tyrdom of  the  old  Covenanter,  and  listening  to  his 
parting  words,  the  young  man  was  profoundly  im- 
pressed. The  calm  heroism  of  the  aged  man,  and  his 
declarations,  were  a  message  from  God  to  Renwick's 
soul.  When  the  death  struggle  came,  he  put  his  hand 
over  his  eyes,  to  shut  out  the  awful  spectacle,  and  hur- 
ried away,  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  the  iniquity 
of  the  persecutions  put  upon  the  poor  Covenanters. 
That  solemn  experience  was  the  turning  point  of  his 
life.  He  went  to  the  execution  of  Cargill  a  youth:  he 
Returned  a  man,  with  the  burdens  of  his  country  upon 
•his  soul.  He  had  passed  through  deep  experiences  of 
feeling  before,  but  of  a  totally  different  kind.  The 
young  man  had  a  thoughtful  and  philosophical  mind, 
and'  was  much  given  to  reasonings  on  the  great 
problems  of  the  universe.  At  one  time  he  was  over- 
whelmed with  melancholy  and  doubts.     As  he  walked 


88  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

with  a  friend  one  day  among  the  fields,  he  pointed  to 
the  mountains,  not  far  away,  and  exclaimed,  "Oh!  if 
these  \\'ere  all  devouring  furnaces  of  burning  brim- 
stone, I  should  be  content  to  go  through  them  all  if 
I  could  be  assured  there  was  a  God!''  He  was  at  that 
time  a  student  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  Soon 
afterwards  he  saw  Donald  Cargill  die,  and  through 
this  martyrdom  the  light  of  God  came  to  his  soul.  He 
finished  his  studies  at  the  University  with  distinction, 
but  refused  to  take  his  degree,  because,  in  order  to  do 
so,  he  must  swear  allegiance  to  the  perfidious  and  cruel 
King.  This  he  would  not  do,  as  he  had  determined 
to  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  Covenanters. 

He  soon  decided  that  if  Scotland  was  to  be  saved 
from  tyranny  and  superstition,  there  could  be  no  com- 
promise v,'ith  the  plans  and  purposes  of  the  then  exist- 
ing government,  but  there  must  be  bold  defiance  and 
unflinching  adherence  to  the  Covenants.  .He  decided 
to  give  all  his  efforts,  and  his  life,  if  need  be,  for  the 
liberation  of  the  church  and  people  of  Scotland.  In  a 
letter  to  Sir  Robert  Hamilton  he  declared,  "Alagistrates 
have  no  power  but  what  is  derived  from  the  people," 
and  thus  showed  himself  a  generation  ahead  of  his 
time. 

At  this  time  the  strict  Covenanters,  or  Cameronians, 
were  organized  into  local  bands,  called  "Societies,"  and 
to  one  of  these  the  young  man  joined  himself.  They 
decided  to  send  him  to  Presl)yterian  Holland,  the  hc^ne 
of  many  exiled  Covenanters,  to  study  theology  and 
prepare  himself  for  the  holy  ministry.  This  they  did 
in    U)8j.  ])ut  as  there  was  so  much  need  for  him  at 


TWO  STARS.  89 

home,  they  told  him  he  must  return  in  six  monihs.  He 
made  good  use  of  his  time  at  Groningen,  Holland,  de- 
voting himself  with  all  his  soul  to  his  studies.  But 
he  was  constantly  distressed  at  the  news  from  Scot- 
land. His  heart  hurned  with  impatience  to  go  to  the 
assistance  of  his  persecuted  hrethren,  or  that  he  might, 
"at  least,  share  their  sufferings.  In  a  letter,  written  to 
a  friend  at  home,  he  said :  "Courage  yet !  for  all  that 
is  come  and  gone.  The  loss  of  men  is  not  the  loss  of 
the  cause.  What  matter  though  we  all  fall  ?  The  cause 
shall  not  fall."  His  spirit  was  already  that  of  the 
martyr,  who  heholds  in  the  future  the  dawning  light 
of  victory  for  which  he  is  willing  to  die. 

When  he  returned  to  his  native  land  he  said,  "Let 
us  be  lions  in  God's  cause  and  lambs  in  our  owm." 
Now  the  young  minister  of  twenty  took  the  lead  in 
organizing  "the  poor  w^asted  remnant."  This  he  did 
with  masterly  ability  and  signal  success.  Everywhere 
was  felt  the  inspiration  of  his  genius  and  character. 
He  boldly  proclaimed  the  principles  for  which  he  and 
his  people  stood,  and  changed  them  from  the  attitude 
of  mere  waiting  or  defence  into  that  of  attack  upon 
the  iniquities  of  the  day.  The  King,  in  the  judgment 
of  Renwick,  had  forfeited  all  claim  to  obedience  or 
respect.  By  his  own  conduct  had  he  destroyed  every 
^obligation  to  loyalty.  The  jDeople  caught  the  fire  of 
this  splendid  soul,  and  there  was  a  return  of  hope 
among  them.  A  paper,  called  the  Infonnatovy  Vindi- 
cation, setting  forth  and  defending  their  principles,  was 
drawn  up  by  Renwick  and  adopted  by  the  various  "So- 
cieties."    They  sent  commissioners,  asking  for  sym- 


90  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

path}^  and  fellowsliip,  to  the  Protestants  of  Holland, 
Switzerland,  and  even  to  the  W'aldensians  of  the  Italian 
Alps.  The  young  leader  longed  for  the  union  of  all 
the  truly  Reformed  in  the  great  work  of  setting  free 
the  kingdom  of  God  from  oppression.  He  said  :  "Oh! 
when  shall  those  be  agreed  on  earth  that  shall  be  agreed 
in  heaven?  Methinks  if  my  blood  were  a  means  to 
procure  that  end,  I  could  willingly  offer  it." 

God  was  preparing  his  people  for  victory,  but  l)efore 
reaching  it  they  were  to  go  through  hotter  fires  of 
persecution  than  they  had  yet  known.  To  fit  them  for 
Avhat  was  before  them,  there  was  need  of  such  inspira- 
tion as  comes- i"iot  except  through  the  agency  of  a  great 
leader,  and  James  Renwick  was  the  leader  sent  for  the 
purpose.  He  did  his  work  well,  arKl  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted, even  by  those  who  differ  from  his  principles, 
that  he  was  one  of  the  most  heroic  figures  that  have 
appeared  in  all  Scottish  history.  His  testimony  was 
against  the  usurpations  of  the  wicked  government  not 
only,  but  also  against  those  who  were  called  "Ab:)d- 
erate  Presbyterians,''  who,  from  stress  of  trial,  deemed 
it  best  iov  the  time  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  the 
King  and  accept  the  "indulgences"  offered. 

Another  great  Scotchman  of  the  day  was  a  layman, 
Robert  Baillie,  of  Jerviswoode.  When  the  Duke  of 
York,  brother  of  the  King,  a  crafty,  cruel  man.  and 
secretly  a  Roman  Calliolic,  gained  the  ascendancy  over 
those  at  court  who  advised  milder  measures,  the 
*'\Vhigs,"  the  party  in  England  and  Scotland  that  op- 
posed the  stern  repressive  measures  c^f  the  government, 
Baillie  saw  that  the  time  had  come  when  decisive  steps 


TWO  STARS.  91 

must  be  taken  to  preserve  the  liberties  of  the  country 
and  to  save  it  from  the  greatest  of  evils,  the  utter 
degradation  of  the  morals  of  the  people. 

The  Earl  of  Argyle,  son  of  the  Marquis  who  had 
been  beheaded  long  before,  was  now  sentenced  to  death 
as  a  traitor,   though  he  escaped  and  was  not  put  to 
death  at  that  time.     All  were  proclaimed  rebels  and 
traitors  who  might  have  any  dealings  with  those  con- 
cerned in  the  rising  which  had  been  suppressed  at  Both- 
well  Bridge.     This  put  alxnit  twenty  thousand  persons 
under  the  awful  condemnation  of  death.     1  he  country 
thus  became  uninhabitable  for  free  men.     A  plan  was 
formed  to   seek   relief   from   unenduralMe  tyranny  l)y 
emigration  to  the   Carolinas  of  America,  but  it  was 
frustrated.      One  of   the  leaders  in  this  scheme   was 
Rol)ert  Baillie,  of  Jerviswoode.     He  had  occasion  to 
go  to  London  in  connection  with  this  enterprise,  nego- 
tiating for  the  purchase  of  lands  for  the  colony  that 
was  to  settle  in  America,  and  James,  the  Duke  of  York, 
and  brother  of  the  King,  managed,  by  his  shrewdness 
and  villainy,  to  make  it  appear  that  Baillie  was  con- 
nected with  the  plot  called  the  "Rye-House  Plot,"  to 
kill  the  King.     Baillie  was  entirely  innocent,  but  he 
•  was  opposed  to  the  tyranny  of  the  government,  and 
that  was  sufficient.     He  was  a  man  of  the  most  un- 
^.  blemished  character  not  only,  but  also  of  superb  talent. 
Dr.  John  Owen  said  "he  was  a  person  of  the  greatest 
abilities  I  almost  ever  met  with"  ;  and  Archbishop  Bur- 
net, of  Glasgow,  who  certainly  could  be  accused  of  no 
.partiality  for  the  Covenanters,  declared  him  to  be  "a 
gentleman  of  great  parts,  Imt  of  much  greater  virtue." 


92  T?IE  BLUE  FLAG. 

Truth  and  honor  were  his  guidino-  principles.  This 
was  a  man  dangerous  to  the  purposes  of  the  King  and 
his  government,  hecause  his  influence  was  so  powerful 
with  the  best  people,  and  it  was  determined  that  he 
must  die. 

Baillie  was  arrested  in  London,  and  after  an  exami- 
nation in  tlie  presence  of  the  King  and  the  Duke  of 
York,  was  sent,  loaded  with  chains,  to  Scotland  to  be 
tried  for  his  life.  So  inhumanly  was  he  treated  that  his 
health  failed,  and  it  soon  became  evident  that  his  death 
was  near  at  hand  from  natural  causes.  In  a  few  weeks 
or  days  he  would  have  been  out  of  the  way,  but  in  that 
case  his  large  estates  would  i>;o  to  his  heirs.  If  he 
could  be  condemned  and  put  to  death  as  a  traitor,  his 
wealth  would  be  confiscated.  "The  Duke  of  York 
wanted  his  head,  and  the  government  robbers  wanted 
his  estates,"  says  one  writer.  Archbishop  Burnet 
w^rites,  "He  was  so  composed,  and  even  so  cheerful, 
that  his  behaviour  looked  like  the  reviving  of  the  spirit 
of  the  noblest  of  the  old  Greeks  and  Romans,  or  rather, 
of  the  primitive  Christians,  the  first  martyrs,  in  those 
best  days  of  the  church." 

When  the  htuu^  of  his  trial  arrived  he  was  too  feeble 
to  be  dressed,  and  had  to  be  brought  to  the  coun  in 
his  night  robe.  Sir  George  Mackenzie,  called  "Bloody 
Mackenzie,"  was  the  i)rosecuting  attorney,  representing 
the  government.  Baillie  listened  with  composure  to  his 
violent  harangue,  and  at  its  conclusion  rose  with  diffi- 
culty to  his  feet,  and,  resting  against  the  bar,  addressed 
the  Court : 

"My  lord,  I  desire  liberty  to  speak  a  few  words,  not 


TWO  STARS.  9^ 

being  able  to  say  miicb,  because  of  my  great  weak- 
ness. 

'']\Iy  lord,  the  sickness  now  upon  me,  in  all  human 
appearance,  will  soon  prove  mortal,  and  I  cannot  live 
many  days.  I  find  I  am  intended  for  a  public  sacrifice 
in  my  life  and  estate;  and  my  doom  being  predeter- 
mined, I  am  only  sorry,  under  such  circumstances, 
that  my  trial  has  given  the  C(nn"t  so  much  and  so  long 
trouble  l^y  staying  here  till  past  micbiight." 

Then,  to  the  jury : 

"Gentlemen,  1  doulit  not  but  you  will  act  as  men  of 
honour  on  the  evidence  which  you  have  heard.  The 
depositions  of  the  witnesses,  I  admit,  contain  some  hard 
things  against  me ;  and  these  must  be  your  rule  in 
coming  to  a  verdict,  and  nothing  that  I  can  say  may 
be  entitled  to  any  legal  effect.  Yet,  for  the  exoneration 
of  my  own  conscience,  and  that  my  poor  memory  and 
ruined  family  may  not  suffer  additional  injustice  from 
the  breath  of  calumny,  I  am  bound  to  direct  your  atten- 
tion to  this,  that  the  most  material  witnesses  were  for- 
mer associates  and  correspondents  of  my  own,  con- 
nected in  what  I  was  connected,  embarked  in  the  same 
principles  and  cause.  Life  may  be  precious  to  them, 
and  the  saving  of  it  may  color  or  even  add  something 
^to  their  evidence.  One  of  them  certainly  is  blessed 
with  a  very  ready  memory,  which  is  never  at  a  loss ; 
yet  I  am  sure  there  were  some  things  said  to  ha\e  been 
spoken  at  a  meeting  at  which  I  attended  which  I  am 
positive  were  nc^t,  at  least  not  when  I  was  present.  I 
say  this  merely  in  self-defence,  and  from  my  own  con- 
sciousness of  innocence.    As  to  the  witnesses  who  have 


94  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

appeared  against  me,  I  do  most  heartily  forgive  them. 
But,"  he  continued,  with  fire  and  energy,  "there  is  one 
thino-  whicli  (hstresses  me  extremely,  and  where  I  am 
injured  to  the  last  degree — that  is,  t(^  he  charged  with 
a  plot  to  cut  ofif  the  King  and  the  Duke  of  York;  and 
that  I  was  engaged  in  this  with  such  an  ardent  zeal  and 
furv  that  I  sat  up  whole  nights  to  form  a  declaration 
to  palliate  or  justify  such  villainy.  1  am  in  all  proha- 
bility  to  appear  in  a  few  hours  before  the  trilounal  of 
the  Great  Judge.  In  his  omniscient  presence,  and  be- 
fore your  lordships  and  all  present,  I  solemnly  declare 
that  never  was  I  prompted  or  privy  to  any  siTch  thing, 
and  that  I  abhor  and  detest  all  thoughts  or  principles 
that  would  lead  to  touching  the  life  and  blood  of  his 
Majesty,  or  his  royal  brother,  or  of  any  person  what- 
ever. I  was  ever  for  monarchical  government,  and  I 
designed  nothing  in  all  my  public  ap])earances,  which 
have  been  few,  hut  the  preservation  of  the  protestant 
religi(ni,  the  safety  of  his  Majesty's  person,  the  con- 
tinuation of  our  ancient  government  upon  the  founda- 
tions of  justice  and  righteousness,  the  redressing  of  our 
grievances  by  King  and  Parliament,  the  relieving  of 
the  oppressed,  and  ])utting  a  stop  to  the  shedding  of 
blood.'' 

He  turned  suddenly  from  the  Court  and  the  jury, 
and  fixed  his  ])enetrating  glance  on  the  Lord  Advocate. 
For  a  moment  he  ])aused,  swelling  with  indignant 
scorn,  and  looking  full  in  the  face  of  his  adversary,  who 
Ct)\\ere(l  beneath  his  e\e,  he  thus  ai)pealed  to  him: 

"My  Lord  AcKocate,  I  think  it  strange  beyond  ex- 
pression   that    you    charge   me   with    such    abominable 


TWO  STARS.  95 

things.  Do  vou  remember  when  you  came  to  me  in 
prison,  you  told  me  such  things  were  laid  to  my  charge, 
btit  you  did  not  believe  them  ?  How,  then,  my  lord, 
dare  you  throw  such  a  stain  upon  my  character,  and 
Avith  so  much  violence  of  accusation  ?  Are  you  now 
convinced  in  your  conscience  that  I  am  more  guilty 
than  I  was  at  the  interview,  where  you  freely  acquitted 
me  of  guilt?  Do  yoti  remember  what  passed  betwixt 
us  in  ])rison?'' 

Mackenzie,  greatly  agitated,  arose,  and  in  embar- 
rassed tones  said:  "Jerviswoode,  I  own  what  you  say! 
My  thoughts  were  as  a  private  man.  What  I  say  here 
is  by  special  direction  of  the  Priv^y  Council/'  and,  point- 
ing to  Sir  William  Patterson,  the  Clerk,  he  added,  ''He 
knows  my  orders." 

''Well,  well,  my  lord,"  replied  Baillie  of  Jerviswoode, 
''if  yoti  keep  one  conscience  for  yourself  and  another 
for  the  Council,  I  pray  God  to  forgive  you — I  do !" 
Then,  looking  up  at  the  President  of  the  Court,  he  said, 
'T  will  trouble  your  lordships  no  further,"  and  fell  back 
exhatisted  in  his  seat. 

Sentence  was  then  pronounced  that,  the  same  day, 
within  a  few  hours,  he  should  be  executed ;  his  body 
qtiartered  and  the  parts  exposed  in  the  princip>al  towns 
of  the  kingdom;  his  estates  confiscated,  and  his  name 
branded  with  treason. 

.  As  he  left  the  cotu't  he  said,  ''M}^  lords,  the  time  is 
short,  the  sentence  sharp;  but  I  thank  my  God,  who 
hath  made  me  as  fit  to  die  as  you  are  to  live!" 

The  barbarous  sentence  was  carried  out  a  few  hoiu's 
afterward,  and  his  estates  were  given  to  the  Duke  of 


96 


THE  BLUE  EL  AG. 


Gordon,  a  minion  of  the  Duke  of  York,  and  Baillie's 
family,  to  save  their  lives,  lied  to  Holland,  the  refuge 
of  the  oppressed  of  all  nations. 

Xo  wonder  that  the  Cove- 
nanters were  tired  with  fresh 
determination  to  resist  unto  the 
death  a  government  that  could 
perpetrate  this  and  other  crimes. 
1  he  people  of  Scotland,  and 
England  also,  began  to  utter,  in 
no  uncertain  tones  their  indig- 
nation, and  the  cloud  rA  revolu- 
tion grew  thick  over  all  the 
land.  But  an  unlooked  for 
event  was  about  to  occur.  The 
hand  of  God  was  about  to  be  laid  upon  the  guilty  King. 
Baillie  was  put  to  death  in  1684,  and  early  the  next 
year,  on  the  6th  day  of  February,  Charles  H.  died 
suddenly.  It  was  generally  supposed  his  end  was 
caused  by  apoplexy,  but  there  were  strong  suspicions 
of  poisoning.  So  Charles  H.  and  his  host  of  victims 
murdered  for  their  faith  met  face  to  face  before  the 
bar  of  God. 


Charles  II, 


CHAPTER  XI. 


Blood,  Blood! 


^T^HE  Duke  of  York,  brother  of  Charles  II.,  now 
-*-     ascended  the  throne,  under  the  title  of  James  II., 
and  was  proclaimed  as  King  in  England,  Scotland  and 
Ireland. 

Every  one  knew  that  the  accession  of  the  cruel  Duke 
tc  the  crown  meant  bitterer  persecutions  for  the  Cove- 
nanters than  ever,  and  the  sequel  realized  the  worst 
fears  of  the  downtrodden  peo- 
ple. It  ivas  determined  by  the 
goveninient  that  the  Cove- 
nanters should  be  extermi- 
nated. The  preaching  of  the 
gospel  by  any  Presbyterian 
minister  in  Scotland  was  pro- 
hibited under  penalties  of  im- 
prisonment, exile  or  death. 
Common- soldiers  were  autho- 
rized to  kdl,  on  the  spot,  any 
who  refused  absolute  submis- 
sion. No  man  could  travel  anywhere  without  a  pass 
from  the  authorities,  and  wayfarers  were  often  shot 
dead  by  the  l)rutal  soldiers,  without  asking  for  their 
pass,  because  they  wished  to  possess  themselves  of  such 
valuables  as  might  be  found  upon  their  persons.  These 
banditti,  called  "troopers,"  would  stop  a  man  on  the 


James  II. 


98 


THE  BLUE  FLAG. 


highway  and  demand  of  him,  "Will  you  renounce  the 
Covenant?"  "Will  you  pray  for  the  King?"  "Was 
the  killing  of  Archbishop  Sharp  murder?"  "Was  the 
rising  at  Bothwell  Bridge  rebellion?"  "Will  you  ab- 
jure the  late  treasonable  declarations?"  If  these  ques- 
tions were  n(jt  answered  satisfactorily,  the  penalty  was 
instant  death.  Since  the  days  of  Nero,  w^ere  God's 
people  ever  treated  more  cruelly? 

It  was  ordained,  also,  that  not  only  should  ministers 
who  preached  at  a  "conventicle''  be  put  to  death,  but 
also  any  who  listened  to  their  sermons  must  die  for  it. 
it  was  as  if  an  army  of  demons  had  been  turned  loose 
upon  the  poor  Covenanters;  God's  anger  was  waxing 
hot  against  his  enemies,  but  he  restrained  it  for  a  while. 
The  company  of  martyrs  round  the  throne  in  heaven 
was  not  yet  complete.  There  were  crowns  of  life  still 
to  be  bestowed  upon  men  wdio  would  be  faithful  unto 
death.  .^' 

An  attempt  was  made  by  the  Duke  of  Monmouth 
and  the  condemned  Earl  of 
Argyle  to  overturn  the  gov- 
ernment of  King  James,  but 
it  failed,  and  the  noble  Earl 
of  Argyle  was  put  to  death. 
On  the  scafifold  he  said,  "I  die 
not  only  a  Protestant,  but 
with  a  heart-hatred  of  Pope- 
ry, prelacy,  and  all  supersti- 
tion whatsoever."  With  this 
declaration,  June  30,  1685,  he 
went  to  join  his  martyred  father.     Shortly  afterwards, 


Earl  of  Argyle. 


BLOOD,  BLOOD !  99 

more  than   twenty  of  Argyle's  clan   were  hanged  at 
Inverness. 

Sir  James  Graham,  ordinarily  called  "Claverhouse," 
now  rose  to  the  summit  of  his  awful  fame,  to  fill  up 
the  measure  of  his  iniquities,  and  make  for  himself  a 
name  to  be  covered  with  shame  and  disgrace  forever. 
He  had  been  rewarded  for  his  unrelenting  cruelties  to 
the  Covenanters  by  being  made  a  member  of  the  Privy 
Council  at  Edinburgh,  and  the  southwestern  counties 
of  Dumfriesshire  and  Galloway  were  assigned  to  him 
as  his  own  special  domain.  These  beautiful  regions 
he  proceeded  to  turn  into  fields  of  death,  crimsoned 
with  the  blood  of  their  best  inhabitants.  His  purpose 
was  to  kill  all  of  the  Covenanters,  to  "make,  with  the 
sword,  a  solitude,  and  call  it  peace."  He  employed 
spies  to  find  out  and  report  the  hiding  places  of  the 
doomecf  people.  Sometimes  he  w^ould  drive  all  the 
inhabitants  of  a  particular  neighborhood  into  one  place, 
surround  them  w^ith  soldiers,  and  command  them  to 
swear  allegiance  to  King  James  and  abjure  the  Cove- 

.  nants,  or  be  shot  on  the  spot.  At  other  times  he  would 
collect  the  children  before  a  line  of  soldiers,  telling 
them  to.  pray,  for  the  hour  of  death  was  come,  and 
then  have  the  soldiers  fire  over  their  heads,  to  frio-hten 

V  them  into  confessing  where  their  parents  or  elder 
brothers  were  concealed.  Often,  under  his  thirst  for 
blood,  he  would  kill  his  victims  with  his  own  hands. 

One  memorable  example  of  the  bloodthirstiness  of 
Cl^averhouse  was  the  murder  of  John  Brown,  of  Priest- 
hill,  in  the  parish  of  Muirkirk.  This  worthy  man  was 
a  plain  "carrier,"  or  carter,  and  lived  a  quiet  life  with 


lOO  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

his  family  in  an  humble  cotta.ee.  He  had  taken  no 
part  in  any  uprising,  though  he  was  devoted  to  the 
cause  of  the  Covenanters.  The  crime  that  cost  him 
his  life  was  that  of  occasionally  furnishing  shelter  to 
these  hunted  people.  This  information  was  conveyed 
to  Claverhouse,  and  he  determined  that  John  Brown 
should  pay  the  forfeit  of  his  life.  So,  accompanied  by 
a  troop  of  dragoons,  this  officer  of  the  King  went  and 
arrested  Brown  where  he  was  at  work  in  his  little  field. 
They  brought  him  to  his  cottage,  and,  after  putting  to 
him  the  usual  questions,  Claverhouse  commanded  him, 
''Go  to  your  prayers,  for  you  shall  immediately  die." 

The  poor  man  kneeled  down  in  the  presence  of  his 
murderers,  his  wife  standing  by  weeping,  holding  an 
infant  in  her  arms,  her  other  child  clinging  to  her 
skirts.  While  the  martyr  was  offering  his  last  prayer, 
Claverhouse  three  times  interrupted  and  bade  him 
hurry  through.  He  had  given  him  "time  to  pray,  but 
not  to  preacli,"  he  said.  \Mien  John  Brown  had  fin- 
ished he  turned  to  his  wife  and  said,  'Tsabel,  now  the 
day  is  come  that  I  told  you  would  come  when  I  first _ 
spoke  to  you  of  marriage."  "Indeed,  J(^hn,"  she  an- 
swered, *T  can  willingly  part  with  you."  "Then," 
said  he,  "that  is  all  I  desire;  I  have  no  more  to  do 
but  to  die;  I  have  been  in  case  to  meet  death  for  many 
years."  He  kissed  her  and  the  children  good-bye,  and, 
standing  apart,  waited  for  the  soldiers  to  take  his  life. 
Claverhouse  ordered  six  soldiers,  "Fire!"  But,  ti^  his 
amazement,  the  soldiers,  overawed  at  the  martyr's 
calmness  and  by  his  i)raycr,  refused  to  do  the  deed. 
Then  Claverhouse  went  up  to  God's  servant,  and.  with 


JOHN  BROWN,   THE  CARRIER  SHOT  BY  CLAVERHOUSE. 


I02  THE  BLUE  ELAG. 

his  own  pistol,  sliot  liini  tlirougli  the  head.  He  turned 
from  tlie  l)leeding-  corpse,  and  said  to  the  new-made 
widow,  "What  thinkest  thou  of  thy  husl)and  now, 
woman?"  She  repHed,  "I  e\'er  thought  much  good 
of  him,  and  now-  as  much  as  ever/'  'Tt  were  but  jus- 
tice to  lay  thee  beside  him,"  cried  the  murderer.  "If 
you  were  permitted,"  she  answered,  'T  doubt  not  but 
your  cruelty  would  go  that  length ;  but  how  will  you 
answer  for  this  morning's  work?"  "To  man  I  can 
be  answerable,"  said  Claverhouse,  "and  as  for  God,  I 
will  take  him  into  my  own  hand;"  and  rode  C'ff  at  the 
head  of  his  troop. 

Poor  Isabel  gathered  up  from  the  ground  the  scat- 
tered brains  of  her  husband,  took  the  handkerchief 
from  her  neck  and  tied  it  about  his  shattered  head,  and, 
straightening  out  his  body,  threw  over  it  her  plaid. 
Then  she  sat  dow-n  to  weep,  with  one  child  upon  her 
knee  and  the  other  clasped  closely  to  her  breaking 
heart.  No  friend  nor  neighbor  \vas  near  to  perform 
for  her  the  last  sad  duties  to  the  dead,  but  the  King 
of  kings  was  there  with  his  angels,  and  "underneath 
her  were  the  everlasting  arms." 

Could  the  throne  of  King  James  II.,  supported  by 
such  deeds,  stand  long  while  a  just  God  reigned?  The 
hour  of  retribution  was  not  far  away. 

After  the  murder  of  John  Bn^wn,  Claverhouse  pro- 
ceeded to  Dumfriesshire,  and  another  victim,  Andrew^ 
Hislop,  fell  into  his  hands,  and  was  dragged  to  the 
house  of  Johnstone,  of  W'esterhall.  Claverhouse's 
courage  failed,  because,  asTie  afterwards  confessed,  he 
could  not  shake  off  the  imi)ression  made  upc^n  him  by 


BLOOD,  BLOOD!  103 

John  Brown's  prayer,  and  he  decided  to  spare  Hislop. 
But  Johnstone  insisted  upon  his  death,  and  orders  were 
given  to  a  Highland  officer  present  to  shoot  him.  He 
refused,  and,  drawing  off  his  troop,  declared  that  he 
would  fight  Claverhouse  and  all  his  dragoons  before 
he  would  do  such  a  barbarous  deed.  Claverhouse  then 
commanded  three  of  his  own  men  to  execute  the  sen- 
tence. Placing  him  in  front  of  them,  they  bade  him 
draw  down  his  bonnet  over  his  eyes.  Hislop  pushed 
his  cap  back,  laying  bare  his  fearless  brow,  and  stretch- 
ing out  his  hand,  in  which  he  held  his  Bible,  he  replied 
that  he  could  look  his  murderers  in  the  face,  and  de- 
clared that  they  would  have  to"  answer  for  what  they 
were  about  to  do  at  the  great  day  wdien  they  should 
be  judged  by  that  book.  "Fire!"  cried  Claverhouse, 
and  another  martyr  went  to  receive  his  crown. 

A  still  more  hideous  crime  was  committed  near 
Wigton,  in  Upper  Galloway.  Gilbert  Wilson,  who 
occupied  a  farm  belonging  to  the  laird  of  Castlestewart 
and  his  wife,  had  yielded  to  the  acts  requiring  all  the 

■  people  to  "conform"  to  the  will  of  the  government 
and  attend  the  services  of  the  curate.  Their  children — 
Margaret,  "aged  about  eighteen  ;   Thomas,  sixteen ;   and 

\  Agnes,  only  thirteen — were  tilled  with  the  heroic  spirit 
vof  the  Covenanters,  and  refused  to  "conform."  So 
they  were  obliged  to  leave  home  and  seek  refuge  in 
the  moors  among  the  hills.  The  laws  forbade  even 
their  parents,  as  well  as  (Uhers.  from  gi\'ing  them  food 
or  shelter ;  l)ut  an  aged  woman,  Margaret  McLauchlan, 
who  resided  in  the  wilderness,  gave  them  a  temporary 
home   under   her   roof.      A   wretch   named   Stuart   in- 


I04  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

formed  on  them,  and  tlicy  were  all  arrested  and  cast 
into  prison.  Tliey  were  Ijnjuf^dit  to  trial  before  Lagg 
and  ]\Iajor  W'indram,  who  commanded  the  forces  of 
the  King-  in  that  district.  These  females  were  accused 
of  rebellion  at  Bothwell  Bridge  and  Airdsmoss,  and  of 
having  been  present  at  twenty  conventicles.  Nothing 
could  be  proved,  so  they  were  required  to  take  the  oath 
and  abjure  the  Covenants.  Idiis  they  refused  to  do, 
and  wxre  consequently  condemned  to  death,  which  was 
to  be  inflicted  in  a  novel  way,  invented  by  their  mur- 
derers. They  were  to  be  tied  to  stakes  on  the  shore 
when  the  tide  was  out,  that  they  might  be  drowned 
by  the  waves  when  the  returning  tide  came  in.  From 
this  awful  docnii  the  agonizing  father  succeeded  in  res- 
cuing the  3'oungest  of  the  three  females,  his  daughter 
Agnes,  by  the  payment  oi  one  hundred  pounds  sterling. 
Nothing,  however,  could  save  the  life  of  ]Margaret 
Wilson,  the  eighteen-year-old  maiden,  ami  her  aged 
friend,  Margaret  jMcLauchlan. 

The  day  for  this  crime  w^as  the  nth  of  May,  1685. 
Windram  and  his  troop  guarded  the  two  women  to  the 
place  of  death,  follow-ed  l)y  a  crowd  of  shuddering 
people,  who  still  dotibted  that  the  minions  (^f  the  King- 
would  go  the  length  of  such  a  massacre.  The  stakes 
were  driven,  that  for  the  aged  woman  being  placed 
further  in,  that  the  younger,  seeing  her  death-struggle 
in  the  advancing  tide,  might  be  constrained  io  recant 
and  adjure  the  Covenants.  The  waters  came  rolling 
in,  and  ^Largaret  Wilson  saw  them  creep  up  higher  and 
higher  over  the  aged  martyr.  At  this  moment  some 
ruffian  asked  ]\Iargaret  Wilson  what  she  now  thought 


BLOOD,  BLOOD!  105 

of  her  fellow-sufferer  in  her  dying  agony.  She  replied, 
''What  do  I  see  but  Christ,  in  one  of  his  members, 
wrestling  there?  Think  you  that  we  are  the  sufferers? 
No :  it  is  Christ  in  us ;  for  he  sends  none  to  a  warfare 
on  their  own  charges."  As  the  waters  came  up  around 
her  own  bosom,  she  sang  the  twenty-fifth  Psalm  and 
,  repeated  portions  of  the  eighth  chapter  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans  until  her  voice  was  silenced  by  the 
waves. 

Before  life  was  quite  gone  her  tormentors  cut  the 
cords  that  bound  her  to  the  stake  and  dragged  her 
ashore.  When  she  regained  consciousness  they  asked 
if  she  would  pray  for  the  King.  She  answered,  "I 
wish  the  salvation  of  all  men,  and  the  damnation  of 
none."  "Dear  Margaret,"  cried  one  of  the  spectators, 
''say  God  save  the  King!"  She  replied,  "God  save 
him,  if  he  will,  for  it  is  his  salvation  I  desire."  Her 
friend  shouted,  "She  has  said  it!  she  has  said  it!" 
But  the  monster,  Windram,  required  her  to  take  the 
abjuration  oath  against  the  Covenants.  Li  a  firm  tone 
she  said,  "I  will  not;  I  am  one  of  Christ's  children; 
let  me  go!"  Windram  then  commanded  her  back  to 
the  stake,  and  in  a  few  moments  her  sufferino-s  were 
ended,  under  the  tide.  Her  voice  has  never  ceased  to 
be  heard  through  the  centuries:  "I  will  not;  I  will 
not:  I  am  Christ's  child:  let  me  go!"  And  the  faith 
of  this  virgin  martyr  will  live  in  the  church  to  the  end 
of  time. 

V  This  was  another  milestone  on  the  road  to  victory 
for  the  Covenanters — by  iv'oy  of  the  cross. 

Some  called  this  fanaticism  and  bigotry:   ])ut  it  was 


lof)  TirE  BLUE  FLAC;. 

tlie  Spiritof  Christ,  that  in\inci1)le  principle  which  lias 
fought  the  wnrld's  and  the  church's  l)attles  for  lil)erty 
of  conscience,  and  millions  would  have  been  the  slaves 
of  tyranny,  superstition  and  sin  who  are  free  to-day 
if  these  men,  women  and  children  had  m^t  died  for 
truth  and  religious  liberty. 

d  he  reader  sickens  with  the  recital  of  the  horrors 
of  this,  the  "Killing  Time."  .Vnd  only  a  small  part 
of  the  atrocities  of  the  period  can  be  recorded  here. 
When  the  news  of  Argyle's  and  ]\Ionmouth's  attempt 
to  overthrow  the  government  was  carried  to  the  Coun- 
cil, it  was  ordered  that  the  prisons  at  Edinburgh  should 
be  emptied  ti>  make  room  for  new  captives  So  the 
unfortunate  Covenanters  confined  there  were  carried, 
in  open  boats,  across  the  bay  and  huddled  in  a  small 
dungeon  on  Burntisland.  For  two  days  they  were  not 
allowed  to  touch  bread  or  water.  Then  the  oath  of 
abjuration  was  offered  them.  About  forty  accepted, 
and  were  sent  back  to  Edinburgh  ;  the  others  refused 
to  acknowledge  James  II.,  a  Roman  Catholic,  as  the 
head  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  they  vv'ere  tied 
together,  with  their  hands  strapped  to  their  backs,  and 
marched  off  northward  to  Dunottar  Castle.  There  they 
were  thrust  into  a  miry  dungeon,  men  and  women 
together,  without  the  slightest  arrangements  for  what 
decency  re(|uires.  They  IkuI  Imt  one  small  window, 
and  could  hardly  breathe;  nor  ccnild  they  get  food 
and  water  except  at  an  exhorbitant  price,  so  long  as 
they  had  anv  monev.  Here  they  suft'ered  a  thousand 
deaths  during  the  weary  months  of  their  imprisonment. 
1  disease  broke  out   amoni'-  them,   anil   man\'   were   re- 


BLOOD,  BJ.OOD! 


107 


leased  by  death  from  the  horrors  of  the  dungeon.  The 
governor's  wife,  having  l)een  induced  to  look  into  the 
noisome  place,  was  so  appalled  ])y  the  terri1)le  spectacle 
with  which  she  was  confronted  that  she  induced  her 
husband  to  separate  the  two  sexes,  providing  a  dun- 
geon for  each.  By  the  end  of  the  year  (1685)  many 
of  the  prisoners  had  died,  and  the  wasted  survivors 
were  sent  to  tlie  Cvjlonies  of  America  as  slaves. 


Dunottar  Castle. 


CHAPTER  Xil. 
Peden  the  Prophet. 

npHE  Rev.  Alexander  Peden  was  one  of  the  most 
-*-  picturesque  characters  developed  among  the 
Covenanters  of  Scotland.  In  his  own  quaint  way  he 
was  a  genius.  He  had  a  keen  perception  of  the  drift 
of  events,  a  fine  imagination,  and  a  graphic  style  of 
speaking  that  wonderfully  impressed  his  hearers.  He 
predicted  so  many  events  which  actually  occurred  after- 
wards that  some  of  the  common  pe()i)le  helieved  him 
possessed  of  an  insight  into  the  future,  and  he  was 
commonly  called  "Peden  the  Prophet.''  He  was  a  man 
of  massive  frame,  majestic  appearance  and  great  phy- 
sical strength.  He  was  born  at  Auchinloicli,  in  Lorn, 
about  1626.  He  was  ordained  pastor  at  New  Luce, 
in  Galloway,  about  1660.  After  three  years  he  was 
deprived  of  his  charge  by  the  "Drunken  Act  of  Glas- 
gow." His  farewell  service  before  leaving  his  flock 
was  a  very  pathetic  occasion,  and  as  the  people  refused 
to  go  home,  he  contiiuicd  with  them  in  the  church  until 
after  nightfall.  Fre(|uently,  while  he  spoke  that  day. 
he  was  interrupted  by  outbursts  of  wailing  from  his 
hearers,  though  he  urged  them  to  be  composed.  As 
he  finished  he  closed  the  door  of  his  pulpit  and  fastened 
it;  then,  knocking  on  it  hard  three  times  with  his 
Bible,  he  said  thrice,  ^^\n  my  Master's  name  T  arrest 
thee!    that  none  ever  enter  thee  but  such  as  enter  as 


PEDEN  TEIE  PROPHET. 


109 


I  have  done,  by  the  clnor."  This  prophecy  was  fulfilled, 
for  no  minister  ever  entered  that  pulpit  until  the  per- 
secutions were  over,  the  Church  of  Scotland  freed,  and 
then  a  pastor  was  installed,  according  to  the  wishes 
of  the  people,  and  in  the  spirit  of  him  who  left  under 
such  trying  circumstances. 


i^-r^.. 


Peden  the  Prophet. 


From  the  day  he  was  driven  from  his  pulpit  he  was 
a  wanderer,  preaching  at  conventicles  and  ministering 
to  the  people  as  he  had  opportunity.  He  joined  the 
Pentland  insurrection,  but  soon  left  it,  believing  that 


no  TJJR  BLUE  FLAG. 

it  Could  (In  no  j^'ood.  He  was  thereafter  denounced  as 
an  otitlaw  and  liis  property  confiscated.  For  five  years 
he  was  a  prisoner  at  the  Bass  Rock,  near  Echnlnirgh. 
In  Decemljer,  1678,  he  was  sentenced,  along  with  sixty 
others,  to  perpetual  banishment,  and  carried  to  London 
with  a  view  to  transportation  to  the  plantations  of  the 
American  colonies.  He  encouraged  his  companions  on 
the  way  to  London,  telling  them  *'the  ship  is  not  built 
that  will  bear  us  over  the  sea  to  any  of  the  plantations." 
When  they  reached  London  they  were  all  liberated, 
from  what  cause  was  never  known.  In  1679  ^^^  ^"^" 
turned  to  Scotland,  dividing  his  time  afterwards  be- 
tween his  own  country  and  Ireland,  or,  as  he  described 
it,  "In  going  from  one  bloody  land  to  the  other  ])l()ody 
land." 

Peden  had  a  great  sense  of  humor,  as  well  as  pathos, 
as  is  usual  with  such  characters,  for  one  who  can  make 
the  people  laugh  can  also  easily  move  them  to  tears. 
"Even  his  nicknames,  glancing  and  sharp,"  says  a 
Scottish  writer,  "used  to  transfix  a  man  as  tipon  the 
point  of  a  lance."  "There  comes  the  devil's  rattle 
bag!"  he  cried  out  one  day,  in  the  midst  of  a  service, 
as  he  saw  one  David  Manson,  a  loud-mouthed  hypo- 
crite, approaching.  "There  comes  the  devil's  rattle 
bag!  We  don't  want  him  here."  ^lanson  in  due  time 
became  a  spy,  and  was  known  as  "the  dexil's  rattle  bag'' 
as  long  as  he  li\cd. 

b^rom  the  diary  of  Sergeant  Xisbet.  who  fre([tiently 
attended  his  ])reaching,  we  ha\e  a  graphic  description 
ol"  his  style  ttf  speech,  lie  writes:  "Althotigh  every 
act  of  wor<]ii])  that    IVmKmi  was  engaged  in  was  full  of 


PEDEN  THE  PROPHET.  iii 

divine  fligiits  and  nseful  digressions,  yet  he  carried 
alongst  with  them  a  (h\'ine  stamp;  and  such  was  the 
weighty  and  convincing  majesty  that  accompanied 
what  he  spoke  that  it  obHg-ed  his  hearers  l:)oth  to  love 
and  fear  him.  I  o1)served  that  every  time  he  spoke, 
wdiether  conversing,  reacUng,  pra3dng  or  preaching,  he 
paused  a  little,  as  if  he  had  been  barkening  what  the 
Lord  would  say  unto  him ;  or  listening  to  some  secret 
whisper;  and  sometimes  he  would  start,  as  if  he  had 
seen  some  surprising  sight." 

In  one  of  his  sermons  he  said : 

"For  you,  the  poor,  broken-hearted  followers  of 
Christ,  to  whom  he  hath  given  grace  to  follow  him  in 
the  storm,  I  tell  you  grace  is  young  glory!  Where  is 
the  church  of  God  in  Scotland,  sirs,  at  this  day?  Is 
it  not  amongst  the  great  clergy?  I  will  tell  you  where 
the  church  is :  it  is  wherever  a  praying  young  mau  or 
young  zi'oman  is  at  a  dykeside  in  Scotland;  that's 
where  the  church  is.  If  there  be  one  of  you  praying, 
Christ  will  he  the  second;  if  there  be  two,  he  -will  be 
the  third.     Ye  shall  never  want  company.'' 

"Well,  sirs,  all  the  ministers  in  the  world  cannot  help 
you  if,  as  I  fear,  the  devil  is  in  many  of  you,  boiling 
in  your  heart's  lusts  and  idols.  It  must  be  Christ  him- 
self that  must  do  it,  as  he  did  to  jMary  Magdalene.  I 
.  fear  Christ  hath  cjuitted  many  of  you  and  given  you 
the  farezvell  clap  upon  the  heart.  O  people  of  God, 
'enter  into  your  chambers' !  I  fear,  ere  the  storm  be 
over,  the  day  is  coming  on  these  lands  that  a  bloody 
.scaifold  shall  be  thought  a  good  shelter." 


112  THE  BLUE  ELAG. 

The  following"  extract  from  one  of  his  sermons  will 
help  show  what  kind  of  a  preacher  he  was: 

"Xow,  sirs,  what  is  it  that  has  carried  through  the 
sufferers  for  Christ,  these  twenty  years  in  Scotland? 
It  is  the  fellowship  of  his  suft'erings.  It  is  the  filling 
up  of  his  sufferings  according  to  the  ancient  decree  of 
Heaven.  h\)r  my  part,  I  seek  no  more  if  he  bids  me 
go !  He  bade  many,  from  1660  to  the  year  of  Pentland, 
go  forth  to  scaffolds  and  gibbets  for  him ;  and  they 
sought  no  more  l)ut  his  commission — they  went,  and 
he  carried  them  well  through.  Then,  in  1666,  at  Pent- 
land,  he  bade  so  many  go  to  the  fields  and  die  for  him, 
and  so  many  to  scaffolds  and  lav  down  their  lives  for 
him;  they  sought  no  more  but  his  commission — they 
went,  and  he  carried  them  well  through.  Again,  in 
1679,  at  Both  well,  he  bade  so  many  go  to  the  fields 
and  scaffolds  and  die  for  him ;  they  sought  no  more 
but  his  commission,  and  went.  He  bade,  so  many  go 
to  the  seas  and  be  meat  for  the  fishes  for  him;  they, 
sought  no  more  but  his  commission,  and  went.  And 
afterwards,  in  the  year  1680,  at  Airdsmoss,  he  bade  so 
many  go  to  the  fields  and  scaffolds  for  him  ;  they  s. night 
no  more  but  his  commission,  and  went.  This  cup  of 
suffering  hath  come  all  the  way  down  from  Abel  to 
this  year  i68j  in  Scotland.  Our  Lord  hath  held  this 
cup  to  all  the  martyrs'  heads  wherever  he  had  a  church 
in  the  world,  and  it  will  go  to  all  the  lips  of  all  the 
martyrs  that  are  to  suft'er  for  Christ,  even  to  the  sound- 
ing of  the  last  trumpet.  But  yet,  peoi)lc  (^f  God,  it  is 
only  the  brim  that  the  saints  taste  of.  l»o  ye  patient 
ii":   believing;    ( iod   shall   \el   make  his  enemies   wring 


PEDEN  THE  PROPHET.  113 

out  the  bitter  dregs  of  the  cup,  and  fall  and  rise  no 
more.  BeHeve  it,  our  Master  will  set  up  this  cup,  and 
close  it,  and  swallow  up  time  in  eternity,  and  blow  that 
great  trumpet,  and  heaven  and  earth  shall  go  at  once 
into  a  red  dame.  O  believers,  long  for  that  noble  day ! 
it  will  put  an  end  to  all  your  sad  and  suffering  days! 
.  .  .  Our  noble  Captain  of  salvation  hath  vanc[uished 
these  bloody  persecutors  in  Scotland  these  twenty-two 
years,  more  by  the  patient  suff'erings  of  the  saints  than 
if  he  had  threshed  all  down  in  a  moment.  The  patient 
suffering  of  the  saints,  with  their  blood  running,  de- 
clares his  glory  much  abroad  in  the  world,  and  espe- 
cially in  these  lands.  As  I  came  through  the  countr\% 
there  was  a  poor  wddow  whose  husband  fell  at  Both- 
well  ;  the  bloody  soldiers  came  to  plunder  her  hotise, 
tellino-  her  'thev  would  take  all  she  had ;  we  will  leave 
thee  nothing  either  to  put  in  thee  or  on  thee.'  T  care 
not,'  said  she;  T  shall  not  want  so  long  as  God  is  in 
the  heavens.'     That  was  a- believer  indeed!" 

Through  the  weary  years  of  the  "Killing  Time"  he 
was  a  hunted  man,  living  often  in  the  dens  and  caves 
of  the  motmtain  moors.  At  the  age  of  sixty  his  mas- 
sive frame  was  bowed  down,  and  he  had  the  look  of  a 
'•man  of  fotu'score  years.  "Cast  the  lap  of  thy  cloak, 
Lord,''  he  prayed,  in  the  hour  of  danger,  "cast  the  lap 
of  thv  cloak  over  piiir  auld  Sandy!" 

It  was  he  who  married  John  Brown,  the  martyr  of 
Priesthill,  to  Isabel  Weir,  in  1682,  and  after  the  cere- 
mony he  said  to  the  bride,  "Yoti  have  got  a  good  man 
.to  be  yotir  husband,  but  yoti  will  not  enjoy  him  hnig; 
prize  his  company,  and  keep  linen  by  you  to  be  his 


114  THE  BLUE  ELAG. 

windino-  sheet,  for  you  will  need  it  when  ye'  are  not 
looking  for  it,  and  it  will  be  a  hloody  one."  A  few 
years  afterwards  this  prechction  was  sadly  realized. 

In  the  year  1685,  John  Clark,  of  Moorhrook,  said 
to  him  in  Carrick,  "Sir,  what  think  yon  of  this  time? 
Is  it  not  a  dark  and  melancholy  day?  Can  there  l)e 
a  more  discouraging  time  than  this?"  He  said,  "Yes, 
John,  this  is  a  dark,  discouraging  time,  hut  there  will 
be  a  darker  time  than  this;  these  silly,  graceless  crea- 
tures, the  curates,  shall  go  down ;  and  after  them  shall 
arise  a  party  called  Presbyterians,  but  having  little 
more  than  the  name,  and  these  shall,  as  really  as  Christ 
was  crucified  without  the  gates  of  Jerusalem  on  Mount 
Calvary  bodily  —  I  say  they  shall  as  really  crucify 
Christ  in  his  cause  and  interest  in  Scotland;  and  shall 
lay  him  in  his  grave,  and  his  friends  shall  give  him 
his  winding  sheet,  and  he  shall  lie  as  one  buried  for 
a  considerable  time.  Oh !  then,  John,  there  shall  be 
darkness  and  dark  days,  such  as  the  poor  Church  of 
Scotland  ne\-er  saw  the  like,  nor  shall  ever  see,  if  once 
they  were  over;  yea,  John,  they  shall  be  S(^  dark,  tliat 
if  a  poor  thing  would  go  between  the  east  sea-bank  and 
the  west  sea-bank,  seeking  a  minister  to  whom  he  would 
communicate  his  case,  or  tell  him  the  mind  of  the  Lord 
concerning  the  time,  he  shall  not  find  one."  Jnhn  asked 
''where  the  testimony  should  be  then?"  He  answered, 
"In  the  hands  of  a  few,  wIk^  will  be  desi)ised  and  under- 
valued of  all,  but  es])ccially  by  these  ministers  who 
l)urie(l  Christ ;  but  after  that  he  shall  get  u])  upon  them  ; 
and  at  flic  crack  of  his  windiiii:;  shrcl,  as  many  (^f  them 
as  are  ali\-e,  who  were  at  his  burial,  shall  be  distracted 


PEDEN  THE  PROPHET.  115 

and  mad  with  fear,  nf)t  knowing  what  to  do.  Then, 
John,  tliere  sliaU  be  l^irave  days,  such  as  the  Church  of 
Scotland  never  saw  the  Hke ;  but  I  shah  not  see  them, 
thoug'h  you  may." 

\Mien  Peden  felt  that  his  end  was  near  he  crept  back 
to  the  old  home  at  Auchinloich,  but  he  had  to  hide  in 
a  cave  that  had  been  dug  for  him.  His  place  of  con- 
cealment was  discovered,  and  he  abandoned  it.  The 
soldiers  came,  and,  after  a  vain  search  in  the  cave,  they 
ransacked  the  house  where  he  had  been  sheltered,  "stab- 
bing the  beds  with  their  swords."  But  he  was  safe  in 
another  hiding  place. 

He  died  within  two  days,  and  was  buried  in  the  isle 
of  the  Lairds  of  Auchinleck,  but  secretly,  in  their  family 
vault.  A  little  more  than  a  month  afterwards  the 
commander  of  the  garrison  at  Lorn  heard  of  it,  and 
sent  soldiers,  who  disinterred  his  poor  body,  and  took 
it  away,  ^^dlen  they  burst  open  his  coffin  and  tore  off 
the  shroud,  a  sudden  blast  of  wind  causfht  it  awav 
and  wafted  it  up  among  the  branches  of  the  overhang- 
ing trees.  The  tradition  of  the  peasants  was  that  the 
branch  on  which  it  rested  immediately  withered  away. 
The  soldiers  carried  the  body  two  miles  to  Cumnock, 
and  buried  it  at  the  foot  of  the  gallows  there,  after  it 
had  been  put  through  the  farce  of  hanging.  This  spot 
afterwards  became  the  burial  place  of  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  all  that  was  mortal  of  Peden  the  Prophet 
lies  there  among  the  remains  of  other  jmous  dead,  to 
this  day  marked  1)y  tw(^  thorn  bushes,  which  stand  one 
at  the  head  and  the  other  at  the  foot  of  the  old 
preacher's  grave. 


^^  CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Last  of  the  AIartyrs. 

X/  OUNG  James  Renwick,  who  had  hmi^  l)een  under 
^  a  ban  of  ^he  government,  forl^idding  any  one  to 
give  him  food  or  sheher,  and  charging  him  with  trea- 
son, was  arrested  in  Edinburgh  and  brought  for  trial 
before  the  Council  He  was  found  guilty,  and  con- 
demned to  l)e  executed  at  the  Grassmarket,  at  the  foot 

of  the  Castle  hill,  in  Edin- 
burgh, where  .so  many  martyrs 
had  given  up  their  lives  to  God 
as  a  testimony  against  sin  and 
"For  Christ's  Crown  and  the 
Covenant."  The  three  charges 
on  which  he  was  sentenced 
were  :  (  i  )  denying  the  King's 
authority;  (2)  pi'eaching  that 
it  was  wrong  to  pay  the  "cess" 

Rev.  James  Renwick.  .  '  .        " 

or  tax  tor  carrymg  on  the  war 
against  the  Covenanters;  (3)  counselling  his  followers 
to  go  armed  to  the  conventicles.  Because  of  his  youth 
and  unl)lemished  character,  and  perhaps  from  fear  of 
the  wrath  of  the  people  if  he  should  be  put  to  death, 
tlie  officers  (^f  the  government  urged  him  to  recant 
and  abjure  the  Covenants.  They  sent  a  l)ishop  and 
other  Ejiiscopal  clergy,  ami  also  a  Roman  Catholic 
priest,  to  persuade  him  to  surrender  liis  convictions; 


LAST  OF  THE  MARTYRS.  117 

but  it  was  of  no  avail ;  he  stood  immovable  as  a  rock. 
The  Bishop  of  Edinburgh  said,  'Tt  was  a  great  loss 
that  he  had  been  of  such  principles,  for  he  was  a  pretty 
lad."  As  for  Renwick's  own  feelings,  he  was  cheerful 
and  composed.  He  often  said  he  saw  great  need  for 
his  suffering  at  this  time,  and  that  he  was  persuaded 
that  his  death  would  do  more  good  than  his  life  for 
many  years  could  accomplish. 

When  his  mother  and  sisters  obtained  leave  to  visit 
him  he  said,  after  returning  thanks  for  what  refresh- 
ment they  brought  him,  "O  Lord,  thou  hast  brought 
me  within  two  hours  of  eternity,  and  this  is  no  matter 
of  terror  to  me  more  than  if  I  were  to  lie  down  in  a 
bed  of  roses.  Oh !  how  can  I  contain  this,  to  be  within 
two  hours  of  the  crown  of  glory!" 

A  few  moments  before  his  execution  he  wrote  a  letter 
to  Sir  Robert  Hamilton,  concluding  with  the  following, 
which  were  the  last  words  he  ever  penned :  "/  go  to 
my  God  and  your  God.  Death  to  me  is  as  a  bed  to  the 
zveary." 

It  was  the  17th  of  February,  1688,  that  he  mounted 
the  scaffold  in  the  Grassmarket,  in  presence  of  the 
greatest  multitude  that  had  ever  assembled  there.  Lest 
the  vast  concourse  might  hear  his  dying  testimony,  the 
drums  were  ordered  to  beat  until  all  was  over.  But 
those  near  him  heard,  and  wrote  down  his  parting 
words. 

He  sang  Psalm  ciii.,  read  Revelation  xix.,  and  of- 
fered a  prayer.    Then  he  said  :   "Spectators,  I  am  come 
here  this  day  to  lay  down  my  life  for  adhering  to  the 
'  truths  of  Christ,   for  which   I  am  neither  afraid  nor 


]i8  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

ashamed  to  suffer.  Xay,  I  l)less  the  Lord  that  ever  he 
counted  me  worthy,  or  enabled  me  to  suffer  anything 
for  him;  and  I  desire  to  praise  his  grace  that  he  hath 
not  only  kept  me  horn  the  gross  pollutions  of  the  time, 
but  also  from  the  many  (M-dinary  pollutions  of  children ; 
and  for  such  as  I  have  been  stained  with,  he  hath 
washed  and  cleansed  me  from  them  in  his  own  blood. 
I  am  this  day  to  lay  down  my  life  for  these  three 
things:  i.  For  disowning  the  usurpation  and  tyranny 
of  James,  Duke  of  York.  2.  For  preaching  that  it  was 
unlawful  to  pay  the  cess  expressly  exacted  for  bearing 
down  the  gospel.  3.  For  teaching  that  it  was  lawful 
for  people  to  carry  arms  for  defending  themselves  in 
their  meeting  for  the  persecuted  gospel  ordinances.  I 
think  a  testimony  for  these  is  worth  many  lives ;  and 
if  I  had  ten  thousand  I  would  think  it  little  enough  to 
lay  them  all  down  for  the  same. 

"Dear  friends,  I  die  a  Presbyterian  Protestant;  I 
own  the  Word  of  God  as  the  rule  of  faith  and  manners ; 
I  own  the  Confession  of  Faith,  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechisms,  Sum  of  Saving  Knowledge,  Directory  for 
Public  and  Family  Worship,  Covenants,  National  and 
Solemn  League,  Acts  of  General  Assemblies,  and  all 
the  faithful  contendings  that  have  been  for  tlic  Cove- 
nanted l^eformation.  I  leave  my  testimony  aj^proving 
the  ])reaching  in  the  fields,  and  defending  the  same  by 
arms.  T  adjoiu  my  testimony  to  all  these  truths  that 
have  been  scaled  by  bloodshed,  either  on  scaffold,  field 
or  seas,  for  the  cause  of  Christ.  I  leave  my  testimony 
against  Popery,  Prelacy,  Erastianism,  against  all  pro- 
fanitv,  and  evervthino-  contrarv  to  sound  doctrine  and 


LAST  OF  THE  MARTYRS. 


119 


the  power  of  godliness  ;  particularly  against  all  usurpa- 
tions and  encroachments  made  upon  Christ's  right,  the 
Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth,  who  alone  must  bear 
the  glory  of  ruling  in  his  own  kingdom,  the  church; 


Edinburgh  Castle,  from  the  GrassrnarKet. 


and  in  i)articular  against  the  absolute  power  affected 
by  this  usurper,  that  belongs  to  no  mortal,  but  is  the 
incommunicable  |;rerogative  of  Jehovah,  and  against 
his  Toleration  llowing  from  this  absolute  power." 
Here  he  was  ordered  to  stop.     He  answered,  "I  have 


I20  TflK   r,LUE  FLAG. 

near  done;"  and  then  said,  "Ye  that  are  the  people  of 
God,  do  not  weary  to  maintain  the  testimony  of  the 
day  in  your  stations  and  places;  and,  whatever  ye  do, 
make  sure  of  an  interest  in  Christ;  for  there  is  a  storm 
coming-  that  shall  try  your  foundation.  Scotland  must 
be  rid  of  Scotland  before  the  delivery  come :  and  you 
that  are  strangers  to  God,  break  off  your  sins  by  repent- 
ance, else  I  will  be  a  sad  witness  against  you  in  the  day 
of  the  Lord.'' 

Here  they  made  him  desist,  and  go  up  the  ladder, 
where  he  prayed,  and  said,  "Lord,  I  die  in  the  faith 
that  thou  wilt  not  lea\'e  Scotland,  but  that  thou  wilt 
make  the  blood  of  thy  witnesses  the  seed  of  thy  church, 
and  return  again  and  be  glorious  in  our  land.  And 
now.  Lord,  I  am  ready.  The  bride,  the  Lamb's  wife, 
hath  made  herself  ready."  The  napkin  being  tied  about 
his  face,  he  said  to  his  friend  attending,  "Farewell,  be 
diligent  in  duty,  make  your  peace  with  God  through 
Christ;  there  is  a  great  trial  coming.  As  to  the  rem- 
nant I  leave,  I  have  committed  them  to  God.  Tell 
them  from  me,  not  to  weary  nor  be  discouraged  in 
maintaining  the  testimony,  and  the  Lord  will  provide 
you  teachers  and  ministers,  and  when  he  comes  he  will 
make  these  despised  truths  glorious  in  the  earth."  lie 
was  turned  over,  with  these  w^ords  in  his  mouth,  "Lord, 
into  thy  hands  1  commend  my  spirit,  f(-»r  thmt  hast  re- 
deemed me.  Lord  God  of  truth." 

Most  men  spoke  well  ^)\  him  after  he  was  dead  ;  even 
his  nuu-derers  as  well  as  others  said  that  they  thought 
he  went  to  heaven.  11ie  X'isconnt  oi  Tarbet,  one  of 
the  councillors,  (  ne  day  in  comi)any,   when   speaking 


LAST  OF  THE  MARTYRS.  121 

of  him,  said:  'Tie  was  one  of  the  stiffest  maintainers 
of  his  principles  that  ever  came  before  us.  Others  we 
used  always  to  cause  one  time  or  other  to  waver,  but 
him  we  could  never  move.  Where  we  left  him,  there 
we  found  him ;  we  could  never  make  him  yield  or  vary 
in  the  least.  He  was  the  man  wq  have  seen  most 
plainly  and  pertinaciously  adhering  to  the  old  way  of 
Presbyterian  government,  who,  if  he  had  lived  in 
Knox's  days  would  not  have  died  by  any  laws  then  in 
being." 

This  martyrdom  of  James  Renwick,  who  gave  his 
blood  for  the  Covenant  at  the  age  of  twenty-six  3'ears, 
was  the  last;  for  before  the  year  (1688)  was  out  the 
day  of  deliverance  came,  and  Scotland  was  free. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
Victory! — The  Revolution  of  1688. 

17"  ING  JAMES  II.,  who  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  and 
-^^  the  dream  of  whose  Ufe,  for  a  long  time,  had 
been  to  reintroduce  into  England  and  Scotland  the 
supremacy  of  the  Pope,  concluded,  after  he  had  gotten 
rid  of  Argyle,  Monmouth,  and  other  stout  opposers 
of  his  policies,  that  the  day  was  approaching  when  he 


The  Conflict  Over. 


might  proceed  with  his  cherished  plans.  He  began 
by  pretending  to  adopt  a  lil)eral  i)o]icy  towards  all  those 
whom  he  had  persecuted,  and  repealed  some  oi  the 
obnoxious  laws  under  which  they  had  suffercvl  so  long. 
The  people  soon  found  out  that  this  was  but  a  step 
towards   the  establishniciu   ni    Roman   Catholicism   as 


REVOLUTION  OF   1688.  123 

the  reliofion  of  Eno-land  and  Scotland.  As  soon  as  this 
idea  got  abroad,  Protestants  of  every  denomination  and 
class  felt  that  the  time  had  come  for  all  parties  to  come 
together  to  save  the  nation,  and  that  all  differences 
must  be  sunk  in  prospect  of  such  an  appalling  catas- 
trophy  as  the  restoration  of  Romanism.  James'  plot 
united  at  once  the  Protestant  people  of  England  and 
Scotland  as  they  had  never  been  united  before,  in  one 
solid  avalanche,  which  nothing  could  resist.  They 
purposed  to  depose  the  infamous  King  and  to  put  Wil- 
liam of  Orange,  a  Dutch  Presbyterian,  and  his  wife, 
Queen  Mary,  on  the  throne  of  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land. Mary  was,  indeed,  the  daughter  of  King  James 
IT.,  but  was,  nevertheless,  in  full  sympathy  with  her 
Calvinistic  husband  and  the  cause  of  liberty. 

It  was  about  six  months  after  the  martyrdom  of 
James  Renwick  when  the  news  swept  through  the 
country  that  William  of  Orange  was  on  his  w^ay  to 
Britain.  The  King's  government  in  Scotland  was 
thrown  into  a  state  of  panic.  They  called  upon  the 
people  to  rally  to  the  support  of  King  James  II.,  and 
beacon  fires  were  kindled  on  hilltops  to  rouse  th.e  nation 
to  arms:  But  the  people  rejoiced  to  hear  that  William 
.of  Orange  was  coming,  and  the  call  to  arms  was 
'  greeted  with  ridicule.  They  were  not  prepared  to  tight 
for  a  King  who  had  oppressed  them,  and  now,  in  his 
hour  of  distress,  sought  their  favor  and  support.  James 
had  to  summon  back  to  England,  for  his  own  defence, 
his  veteran  troopers  that  had  policed  Scotland  and  mur- 
dered SD  many  of  its  sons  and  daughters.  The  King's 
government   at   Edinburgh   issued  proclamation  after 


124  THr:  BLUE  FLAG. 

proclamation  calling  out  tlie  Scottish  militia,  and  there 
was  no  response  hut  laughter,  so  the  King's  govern- 
ment  of    Scotland   collapsed.      In    the    confusion    the 
"moderates"  tremhled,  not  knowing  which  way  to  turn 
or  whom  to  obey.     Now  the  Cameronian  host  came  to 
the  front,  as  the  only  organized  body  prepared  to  do 
anything.       They    boldly    declared    for    \\'illiam    of 
Orange,  and  were  the  hrst  volunteers  in  all  Britain, 
who  appeared  in  arms,  for  the  glorious  Revolution  of 
1688,  by  which  the  nation  gained  those  liberties  which 
have  l)een  its  boast  to  this  day.    All  honor  to  the  brave 
Cameronians.     They  did  not  wait  to  see  which  would 
he  the  stronger  side,  but  proclaimed  at  once,  to  all  the 
world,    that   they    were    for   William,    the    Protestant 
King.    And  now  behold  the  vindication  of  Providence; 
the  Cameronians  were  invited  to  Edinburgh  to  protect 
the  Scottish  Parliament  against  the  followers  of  King 
James,   now  called   "Jacobites,"   who  were  mustering 
together  under  Claverhouse.    The  despised,  condemned 
Cameronians,  who  had  been  hunted  to  the  death  but 
a  few  months  before,  as  traitors  to  the  government, 
were  now  called  upon  to  save  the  government.     This 
they  did.  and   when   Parliament  voted   thanks  and  a 
sum  of  money  for  their  inestimable  services,  they  re- 
fused any  pay.    They  were  not  serving  as  mercenaries, 
but  fighting  f(^r  "Christ's  Crown  and  the  Covenant." 
Now  that  they  were  the  only  arniv  in   Scotland,  and 
had  full  sway,  did  they  wreak  \cngeance  upon  those 
who   iov  years  had   "killed   them   all   the  day  long"? 
No;    but  the  Cameronians  published  a  manifesto  de- 
claring against  anv  such  iirocedure.  saying  "  I  haf  t^ar- 


REVOLUTION  OF  1688. 


125 


tics  aggn'cz'cd  should  not,  at  their  owii  hand,  take 
redress,  seeing  there  are  nozu  some  hopes  of  getting 
zvrongs  redressed  in  a  legal  and  lazvfnl  manner/'  To 
the  everlasting  honor  of  the  Covenanters,  when  they 
won  their  cause  there  was  not  a  single  case  of  their 
taking  vengeance  upon  those  who  had  so  cru.elly  op- 
pressed them. 


^^  \?^»"  <     ^$SE»- 


*!fl.^^K 


"William  of  Orange  Landing  at  Torquay,  England. 


■    When  the  new  Revolution  government  was  estab- 

y     lished,  Imt  still  in  danger,  and  in  urgent  need  of  sol- 

-     ■  diers,   "without   bounty,   without  beat  of   drum,   they 

started  to  their  feet,  in  a  moment,  at  the  cry  of  their 
^*    distressed  motherland,  and  the  Cameronians  assembled, 

nine  thousand  strong,  on  Douglass  Moor,  the  very  gate 
•     into   their   western   hills,   those  glorious   ramparts   of 

British  freedom,     ...    to  aid  in  securing  and  placing 

beyond  all  danger  of  attack  the  newly  planted  liberties 

-of  the  country,  civil  and  relip-ious." 


126  THE  BLUE  ELAG. 

William  landed  at  Torquay,  England,  and  James  11. 
fled  from  the  throne  which  he  had  disgraced.  The 
hour  of  liis  doom  as  King  of  Britain  had  struck,  and 
God  had  decreed  that  his  people  should  no  longer  be 
denied  the  victory  they  had  so  gloriously  won,  by  their 
sufferings,  through  the  twenty-eight  years  since 
Charles  II.  had  ascended  the  throne.  William's  advent 
was  hailed  with  thunderous  enthusiasm,  while  James 
11.  was  glad  to  escape  with  his  life.  The  battle  was 
over  and  the  victory  won. 

At  this  time  the  Laird  of  Torfoot,  not  having  heard 
of  the  re\-olution,  saw  a  horseman  riding  toward  his 
residence,  and  was  alarmed,  thinking  that  he  led  some 
of  the  troopers  of  the  King.  He  cried  out,  "What  do 
I  see?  But  (Mie  trooper?  And  that  motley  crowd  at 
his  heels,  who  are  they?"  As  they  came  nearer  he 
exclaimed,  "That  trooper  is  not  of  Claverhouse's  band; 
nor  does  he  belong  to  Douglass,  nor  t.)  Tnglis,  nor  to 
Strachan's  dragoons.  He  waves  a  small  flag.  I  can 
discover  the  scarlet  and  blue  color  of  the  Covenanters' 
flag.  Ha !  welcome  you,  John  Howie  of  Lochgoin ! 
But  what  news?  Lives  our  country?  Lives  the  good 
old  cause?''  "Glorious  news!''  cried  Howie.  "Scot- 
land forever!  She  is  free!  The  tyrant  James  has 
abdicated.  The  Stuarts  are  banislicd  by  an  indignant 
nation.  Orange  triumphs.  Our  wounds  are  binding 
uj).  Huzza!  Scotland  and  King  William  and  the  Cove- 
nant forever!"  And  so  the  news  llew  from  valley  to 
valley,  "Huzza!  Scotland  and  King  William,  and  the 
Covenant  forever!     Huzza!     Huzza!" 


REVOLUTION  OF  1688.  127 

The  reader  will  be  interested  to  know  what  became 
of  Claverhouse.  He  had  been  made  Viscount  of  Dun- 
dee by  his  master,  James  II.,  just  before  his  dethrone- 
ment. He  urged  the  King  to  fight  for  his  crown,  l3ut 
the  craven  monarch  would  not  consent,  and  Claver- 
house returned  to  Scotland,  accompanied  by  about 
thirty  horsemen.  While  the  convention  of  Parliament, 
presided  over  by  the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  was  sitting  in 
Edinburgh  arranging  the  terms  on  which  the  crown  of 
Scotland  should  be  offered  to  William  of  Orange, 
Claverhouse  passed  through  the  city.  He  encouraged 
the  Duke  of  Gordon,  an  adherent  of  James  II.,  who 
was  still  in  possession  of  the  Castle,  to  hold  out  until 
he  could  gather  the  Highlanders  about  his  standard. 
He  got  together  a  goodly  army,  and  met  Mackay,  a 
favorite  general  of  William,  at  Killiecrankie,  July  29, 
1689.  Claverhouse  was  victorious  that  day,  but  in  the 
hour  of  triumph  he  was  killed  on  the  field.  The  rising 
of  the  Highlanders  soon  collapsed  for  lack  of  a  leader, 
and  the  cause  of  James  collapsed  with  it.  Fr()m  that 
day  the  course  of  Scotland  has  been  onward  and  up- 
ward, and  few  peoples  have  been  so  blessed,  prospered 
and  honored.  None  may  say  that  they  did  not  deserve 
the  victory  achieved  through  so. many  years  of  suf- 
fering. 

As  for  James  IL,  he  received  protection  in  France 
from  the  French  King,  Louis  XIV.  He  tried  in  vain 
to  regain  his  fortunes  and  throne,  by  establishing  him- 
self in  Ireland  with  the  aid  of  French  troops.  But  he 
•was  overthrown  at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  in  Ireland, 
July  I,   1690.     Two  other  attempts  were  made,  with 


128 


THE  BLUE  ELAG. 


the  assistance  of  Louis  XIV.,  the  last  including  as  a 
part  of  it  a  plot  for  the  assassination  of  William,  but 
failure  attended  both.  James  died  at  St.  Germain, 
France,  September,  1701. 


p^r^m^     fr- 


'p 


'iK 


^i^: 


The  Martyr's  Monument. 


To  show  what  it  cost  the  Covenanters  to  win  in  this 
great  conflict,  and  write  one  of  tlie  ni;>st  magnificent 
l)ages  of  human  history,  and  ])ringing  all  ci\ilize(l  man- 
kind into  their  debt,  it  needs  only  to  state  that  in 
twenty-eight  years  eighteen  thousand  men  and  women 
were  either  banislicd  or  killed  because  they  adhered  to 
Christ's  crown  and  the  Cox'enant. 


REV^OLUTION  OF  1688.  129 

The  traveller  at  Edinliurgh  will  not  fail  to  visit  old 
Greyfriars  churchyard,  where  the  National  Covenant 
was  signed,  and  where,  in  one  corner  of  the  enclosure, 
many  of  the  martyred  Covenanters  were  buried,  from 
time  to  time,  in  one  grave.  A  plain  monument  marks 
the  spot,  and  no  true-hearted  man  can  contemplate  it 
without  a  feeling  of  admiration  for  those  who  gave 
up  all  they  had,  and  life  itself,  for  liberty  and  truth. 

On  the  top  is  carved  an  open  Bible,  and  under  it  is 
the  following  inscription : 

"  'And  when  he  had  opened  the  fifth  seal,  I  saw  under  the  altar 
the  souls  of  them  that  were  slain  for  the  Word  of  God,  and  for 
the  testimon}^  which  they  held ;  and  they  cried  with  a  loud  voice, 
saying,  How  long,  O  Lord,  holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not  judge  and 
avenge  our  blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  ?  And  white 
robes  were  given  unto  every  one  of  them;  and  it  was  said  unto 
them,  that  they  should  rest  yet  for  a  little  season,  until  their 
fellow-servants  also,  and  their  brethren,  that  should  be  killed  as 
they  were,  should  be  fulfilled.'  Rev.  vi.  9-1 1.  "These  are  they 
which  came  out  of  great  tribulation,  and  have  washed  their  robes, 
and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb."  Rev.  vii.  14. 

"Halt,  passenger,<ake  heed  what  you  do  see, 
This  tomb  doth  show,  for  what  some  men  did  die. 
Here  lies  interr'd  the  dust  of  those  who  stood 
'Gainst  perjury,  resisting  unto  blood; 
Adhering  to  the  covenants,  and  laws 
Establishing  the  same;  which  was  the  cause 
Their  lives  were  sacrific'd  unto  the  lust 
Of  Prelatists  abjur'd.     Though  here  iheir  dust 
Lies  mixt  with  murderers,  and  other  crew, 
Whom  justice  did  justly  to  death  pursue; 
But  as  for  these,  no  cause  in  them  was  found 
Worthy  of  death,  but  only  they  were  found 
Constant  and  stedfast,  zealous,  witnessing 
For  the  prerogatives  of  Christ  their  King. 


I30  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

Which  truths  were  seal'd  by  famous  Guthrie's  head, 

And  all  along  to  Mr.  Rcnwick's  blood. 

They  did  endure  the  wrath  of  enemies, 

Reproaches,  torments,  deaths,  and  injuries. 

But  yet  they're  those  who  from  such  trouble  came, 

And  now  triumph  in  glory  with  the  Lamb. 

''From  May  27,  1661,  that  the  noble  Marquis  of  Argyle  suf- 
fered, to  the  17th  of  February.  1688,  that  Mr.  James  Renwick 
suffered,  were  executed  at  Edinburgh,  about  an  hundred  of  noble- 
men, gentlemen,  ministers,  and  others,  noble  martyrs  for  Jesus 
Christ.     The  most  part  of  them  ly  here. 

"Upon  the  foot  of  the  monument  stands  a  crown,  with  this 
inscription,  'Be  thou  faithful  unto  the  death,  and  I  \Vill  give  thee 
a  crown  of  life." 


Let  the  following  l)e  the  sejitiment  of  ah  Presby- 
terians not  only,  but  also  of  all  lovers  of  liberty  and 
truth  : 

"An'  blcss'd  be  God  we  noo  can  sit 

Beneath  oor  vine  and  fig-tree  shade — 
May  raise  the  Psalm,  an'  preach,  an'  pray, 
Nane  daurin'  mak'  us  afraid. 

"Nae  dark  Dalyell,  nae  Clavers  stern,' 
Ride  forth  wi'  sword  an'  bridle  ringin'. 
Oor  sufferin'  Covenanted  sires 

To  pri.-on  an'  the  scafifold  bringin'. 

"The  memories  o'  her  martyred  dead 
May  Scotlan'  dearly  cherish  ever; 
They  sowed  the  seed,  we  reap  the  grain — 
Their  names,  their  deeds,  will  perish  never!" 

— Jauct  llamilion. 


QUESTIONS 


ON 


"THE   BLUE    FLAG." 


< 


QUESTIONS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Who  was  Jenny  Geddes? 

Why  did  she  throw  her  stool  at  the  Dean? 

When  did  the  riot  in  St.  Giles'  occur? 

Why  did  she  call  the  Prayer-Book  "mass"? 

Who  was  John  Knox? 

What  was  the  difference  between  the  church  government  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland  and  that  of  the  Church  of  England? 

Who  was  King  of  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland  at  that  time? 

Who  was  King  Charles  I.  ? 

When  did  the  Scotch  succeed  in  finally  establishing  Presbyterian- 
ism  in  Scotland? 

What  do  Presbyterians  do  more  than  others? 

What  were  the  Scotch  contending  for? 

Who  is  the  only  Head  and  King  of  the  church? 

What  was  the  motto  on  the  Covenanters'  flag? 

What  was  the  name  of  the  church  in  which  Jenny  Geddes  threw 
her  stool  at  the  Dean? 

Why  is  it  called  a  cathedral  ? 

CHAPTER  H. 

What  command  was  given  by  the  Archbishop  of  Glasgow? 
Who  were  specially  commanded  to  use  the  English  Prayer-Book? 
What  did  Alexander  Henderson  do? 
"WJiat  petition  was  sent  to  the  Council  and  the  King? 
What  did  the  bishops  and  the  King  do? 
vWhat  complaint  did  the  Presbyterians  make? 
What  did  they  do  afterwards? 

What  did  the  leading  Scottish  ministers  and  nobles  do  then? 
■Who  drew  up  the  National  Covenant? 
Who^was  James  I.  before  he  became  King  of  England? 
What  was  the  King's  Confession?    and  when  was  it  drawn  up, 

and  by  whom? 
When  and  where  was  the  National  Covenant  signed? 


134  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

Who  offered  prayer  before  it  was  signed? 

Who  made  the  address  of  the  occasion  ? 

What  did  he  say? 

Who  first  signed  the  National  Covenant? 

What  did  the  Covenant  say  about  obedience  to  the  King? 

What  did  the  signers  of  the  Covenant  bind  themselves  to  do? 

What  did  King  Charles  I.  do  when  he  heard  of  the  signing  of  the 

Covenant  ? 
What  did  he  call  the  Covenanters? 
Who   was   the    Moderator   and    who   was    the   Clerk   of   the   next 

General  Assembly? 
What  did  the  King's  Commissioner  to  the  General  Assembly  do? 
Did  the  General  Assembly  obey  the  Commissioner? 
What  did  Lord  Erskine  do? 
What  act  did  the  Assembly  pass  about  the  bishops,  the  Prayer- 

Book  and  the  canons? 
Who  was  Hiel  the  Bethelite? 
What  did  the  King  do? 

What  happened  when  the  King's  fleet  came  to  Edinburgh? 
Where  did  the  Covenanters  meet  the  King's  army? 
What  was  the  motto  on  their  flag? 

What  happened  when  the  King's  army  and  the  Covenanters  met? 
Did  the  King  keep  his  promises? 
What  happened  next  year? 
What  prevented  Charles  I.   from  going  on   with   his  persecution 

of  the  Covenanters? 
Who  was  Oliver  Cromwell  ? 

Where  and  when  was  King  Charles  put  to  death? 
Did  the  Covenanters  wish  the  King  to  be  killed? 
How  did  they  treat  his  son  Charles? 
Why  were  the  Scotch  loyal  to  the  King  and  his  son? 
What  kind  of  men  were  the  Stuart  kings? 

CHAPTER  HI. 

When  did  the  General  Assembly  meet  and  whore? 
What  famous  document  did  they  prepare? 
Which  was  the  greatest  of  all  the  Covenants? 
Who  wrote  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant? 
Who    was    the   greatest    Scotchman,    and    who    was    next    to    the 
greatest  ? 


QUESTIONS.  135 

What  did  this  Covenant  say  about  loyalty  to  the  King? 

What  was  the  Covenant  made  to  defend? 

What  was  the  Covenant  opposed  to? 

When  was  this  Covenant  signed? 

Who  signed  it? 

What  other  General  Assembly  met  the  same  year? 

Who  ordered  the  Westminster  General  Assembly  to  meet? 

How  long  did  it  continue  in  session? 

Wlio  made  up  the  Westminster  Assembly  ? 

What  were  they  called  to  do? 

Who  were  the  Commissioners  sent  from  Scotland  to  the  West- 
minster General  Assembly? 

What  did  the  Westminster  Assembly  do  when  the  Scottish  Com- 
missioners arrived? 

Where  and  when  did  the  Westminster  Assembly  and  the  English 
Parliament  sign  the  Covenant? 

What  did  Parliament  order  to  be  done  with  the  Solemn  League 
and  Covenant? 

What  did  King  Charles  I.  do  when  he  heard  of  the  signing  of 
the  Covenant? 

What  did  the  Episcopal  members  of  the  Westminster  Assembly 
do? 

Who  was  made  Lord  Protector  of  England? 

What  did  the  Scottish  people  think  of  Cromwell? 

\\'here  was  Charles  IL  crowned  King  of  Scotland? 

Did  he  sign  the  Covenant,  and  why? 

What  happened  when  Charles  IL  tried  at  first  to  get  the  throne 
of  England? 

How  did  Cromwell  treat  the  Scottish  Presbyterians? 

Wlio  was  Cromwell's  successor? 

.When  did  Charles  L  become  King  of  England? 

What  kind  of  man  was  he  ? 

How  long  were  the  Covenanters  persecuted  after  Charles  H.  came 
to  be  King? 

CHAPTER  IV. 

What  did  Charles  try  to  do  with  the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland? 
What  kind  of  Parliament  did  he  have  in  Edinburgh? 
Who  was  the  King's  Commissioner  at  that  Parliament? 
What  did  the  Scottish  Parliament  do? 


136  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

Who  was  the  first  man  the  King  wished  to  be  rid  of  in  Scotland? 
Why  did  the  King  hate  the  Marquis  of  Argyle? 
What  had  Argyle  done  for  the  King  when  he  was  only  a  prince? 
When  was  Argyle  put  to  death? 

What  did  Argyle  say,  on  the  scaffold,  about  the  future? 
How  did  he  meet  death  ? 

What  friends  did  Argyle  have  with  him  at  the  last? 
Who  was  the  Rev.  James  Guthrie? 
What  was  the  "maiden"  ? 

What  did  Mr.  Hamilton  say  to  Argyle  on  the  scaffold? 
What  kind  of  a  man  was  the  Marquis  of  Argyle? 
What  was  the  Tolbooth? 

What  was  done  with  Arg3^1e's  body,  and  what  with  his  head? 
What  was  the  charge  against  the  Rev.  James  Guthrie? 
How  did  Mr.  Guthrie  act  on  the  scaffold? 
What  were  his  last  words? 
Who  was  put  to  death  with  Mr.  Guthrie? 
Who  was  Samuel  Rutherford? 
Why  did  the  King  wish  him  put  to  death? 
Why  was  he  not  put  to  death  by  the  King? 

What  did  Lord  Burleigh  say  when  the  Council  voted  Mr.  Ruther- 
ford out  of  the  college? 
How  did  Mr.  Rutherford  die? 

CHAPTER  V. 

What  kind  of  a  letter  did  King  Charles  H.   write  to  the   Privy 

Council  in  Edinburgh? 
Who  w^as  the  principal  Archbishop  in  Scotland  at  that  time? 
Give  Sharp's  history  l^efore  he  was  made  Archbishop? 
When  the  renegade  Parliament  met  in  Edinburgh,  what  did  they 

do? 
Who  were  in  this  Parliament  ? 
What  did  this  Parliament  do  about  the  appointment  of  pastors  for 

churches? 
How  had  the  pastors  been  appointed  before? 
What  edict  did  Middleton  and  the  Council  publish? 
What  kind  of  men  were  members  of  this  Council? 
What   were  the  ministers   who  refused   to  become   Episcopalians 

commanded  to  do? 
What  did  the  ministers  do? 


OUESTIOXS.  137 

How  many  gave  up  their  churches  and  manses? 

How  did  the  people  act? 

In  what  part  of  Scotland  were  the  ministers  turned  oat? 

What  did  Bishop  Burnet  say  about  the  men  who  took  the  places 
left  by  the  ministers  who  gave  up  their  churches  and  manses? 

What  did  Middleton  think  of  what  happened? 

When  did  these  things  happen? 

What  happened  to  Lord  Middleton? 

How  was  the  country  governed  for  the  next  six  years? 

How  did  the  people  treat  the  new  ministers  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  the  bishops? 

What  happened  in  the  West  of  Scotland? 

What  led  to  this  uprising? 

Who  was  the  Earl  of  Warriston? 

Who  betrayed  him  to  Charles  I.  ? 

What  was  done  with  Lord  Warriston? 

Who  was  Sir  James  Turner? 

How  did  he  treat  the  people? 

How  did  the  uprising  in  the  West  of  Scotland  begin? 

What  did  the  insurgents  do? 

Who  was  head  of  the  Privy  Council  in  Edinburgh  at  the  time? 

Who  was  commander  of  the  government  army? 

Who  commanded  the  Covenanters? 

Where  did  the  two  armies  meet  ? 

What  was  the  result? 

Who  was  the  Rev.  Hugh  McKail  ? 

When  was  he  put  to  death? 

How  could  Mr.  McKail's  death  have  been  prevented? 

Who  wereto  blame  for  his  death? 

How  did  General  Dalziel  treat  the  Covenanters? 

Why  did  Sharp  and  the  Council  wish  to  destroy  the  Covenanters? 

Who  wrote  the  Scots  Worthies? 

Who  was  Sir  Robert  Kerr? 

Give  the  principal  events  of  his  history? 

CHAPTER  VL 

How  was  it  that  the  most  of  the  army  were  disbanded  for  a  time? 
How  did  Archbishop  Burnet  thin.c  this  would  affect  his  preachers? 
What  happened  to  Sir  James  Turner? 
What  was  a  "conventicle"? 


138  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

What  did  Janics  Mitchell   do? 

What  was  Archbishop  Sharp's  next  act? 

Who  killed  Sharp? 

Tell  of  the  tragedy  of  Magus  Moor. 

WHiere  did  it  take  place? 

Why  did  they  kill  Sharp? 

How  did  the  Covenanters  generally  regard  the  killing  of  Sharp? 

CHAPTER  Vn. 

What  act  was  now  signed  by  the  King? 

How  could  the  Covenanters  meet  for  worship? 

W'ho  and  what  kind  of  man  was  now  the  leader  of  the  Cove- 
nanters? 

Who  was  Sir  James  Graham  of  Claverhouse? 

Give  an  account,  with  date,  of  the  battle  of  Drumclog? 

Who  was  preaching  that  day? 

What  Psalm  did  the  Covenanters  sing  as  they  marched  to  battle? 

What  was  the  tune? 

What  kind  of  a  leader  was  Hamilton  ? 

How  many  Covenanters  and  how  many  of  the  King's  troops  met 
at  Bothwell  Brig? 

W'^hen  was  the  battle? 

Who  commanded  the  Covenanters?    and  who  the  King's  troops? 

Give  an  account  of  the  battle. 

What  was  the  result?  and  how  did  Charles  H.  and  Jaines.  Duke 
of  York,  like  Monmouth's  conduct? 

Who  were  put  to  death  afterwards? 

W^here  were  the  prisoners  confined  ? 

What  was  done  with  the  prisoners  who  refused  to  obey  the  King? 

Give  the  story  of  the  shipwreck? 

Where  are  the  Orkney  Islands? 

How  did  Charles  H.  live  in  London? 

How  were  the  Covenanters  to  win  at  last? 

CHAPTER  VHI. 

What  was  the  "Act  of  Indulgence"? 
What  was  the  object  of  this  act? 
What  was  the  "Queensferry   Pai)cr"  ? 
F>v   whom  and  when  was  it  prepared? 


QUESTIONS.  139 

Who  was  I3onald  Cargill's  "son  in  the  gospel"? 
How  was  Richard  Cameron  made  a  Covenanter? 
Where  was  he  ordained,  and  by  whom? 

How  did  the  people  receive  Cameron  when  he  returned  to  Scot- 
land? 
What  kind  of  a  preacher  was  he? 
To  what  course  did  he  urge  the  people? 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Where  is  Sanquhar? 

By  what  kind  of  country  w-as  it  surrounded? 
When  and  by  whom  was  the  "Sanquhar  Declaration"  made? 
How^  did  this  declaration  speak  of  King  Charles  H.? 
What  were  the  followers  of  Richard  Cameron  called? 
Describe  Cameron's  last  sermon. 
Give  account  of  Cameron's  last  night  and  morning. 
Give  date  and  account  of  the  conflict  at  Airdsmoss. 
What  was  the  Netherbow^  Port  of  Edinburgh? 
What  did  Robert  Murray  say  of  Cameron? 
What  was  the  fate  of  Donald  Cargill? 
Give  date  of  his  death? 

CHAPTER  X. 

Give  account  of  James  Renwick's  experience  at  the  execution  of 
Cargill. 

How  did  Renwack  find  the  light  of  God 

What  were  the  "Societies"? 

Where  did  Renwick  go  after  he  became  a  Covenanter? 

How  old  was  Renwick  when  he  became  the  leader  of  the  Cove- 
nanters? 

How  was  he  received  by  the  Covenanters? 

What  paper  did  he  publish? 

Describe  Renwick's  character  and  work? 

Who  was  Robert  Baillie. 

Who  was  the  Duke  of  York? 

Who  was  the  Earl'  of  Argyle  ? 

XVho  were  the  "Whigs"? 

Of  what  was  Argyle  accused? 

What  was  Baillie's  plan  for  the  relief  of  the  Covenanters? 

What  did  John  Owen  say  of  Baillie? 


I40  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

Why  did  the  rulers  seek  to  kill  Baillie? 

Who  was  the  prosecutor  at  Baillie's  trial? 

Describe  the  trial  of  Baillie. 

How  did  he  embarrass  McKenzie? 

Describe  the  death  of  Baillie. 

How  did  the  barbarities  put  upon  the  Covenanters  now  affect  the 

people  of  England  and  Scotland? 
When  and  how  did  Charles  II.  die? 

CHAPTER  XI. 

WHio  succeeded   Charles   II.   as   King  of   England,   Scotland  and 

Ireland  ? 
What  was  the  religion  and  what  was  the  character  of  James  II.  ? 
What  order  was  issued  against  the  Covenanters? 
How  did  the  "troopers"  treat  the  Covenanters? 
When  and  how  did  the  Earl  of  Argyle  die? 
Give  account  of  the  doings  of  Claverhouse? 
Give  account  of  the  murder  of  John  Brown. 
Who  prepared  his  body  for  burial? 
Give  account  of  Andrew  Hislop's  death. 
Give  account  of  the  death  of  Margaret  McLauchlan  and  Margaret 

Wilson. 
When  did  they  die,  and  where? 
Who  was  in  charge  of  their  execution? 
What  were  Margaret  Wilson's  last  words? 
Did  these  and  the  other  Covenanters  die  in  vain? 
Give  account  of  the  experience  of  the  prisoners  at   Burntisland 

and  Dunnottar  Castle. 
Where  were  the  surviving  prisoners  sent? 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Who  was  Alexander  Peden  ? 

Where  and  when  was  he  born? 

Give  account  of  the  last  service  before  he  left  his  church. 

Why  was  he  denounced  as  an  outlaw? 

Give  account  of  his  trip  to  London  and  return. 

What  did  he  say  about  David  Manson? 

What  did  Sergeant  Nisbet  say  about  Peden? 

What  kind  of  a  preacher  was  Peden? 

What  was  his  prayer  in  time  of  danger? 


QUESTIONS.  141 

Whose  marriage  did  he  solemnize,  and  what  did  he  say  to  the 

bride? 
Where  did  Peden  go  to  die? 
Give  account  of  his  death  and  of  the  final   disposition   made  of 

his  body. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Who  was  the  last  of  the  Scottish  martyrs? 

What  were  the  three  charges  brought  against  James  Renwick? 

Give  account  of  his  last  days. 

Where  was  he  executed,  and  when? 

What  were  his  last  words  ever  penned? 

Give  account  of  his  address  on  the  scaffold. 

What  did  the  Viscount  of  Tarbet  say  of  Renwick? 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

When  did  the  great  Revolution  take  place? 

What  did  James  II.  do  which  brought  about  his  owxi  downfall  ? 

Who  were  William  and  Mary? 

How  was  the  call  of  the  government  for  help  in  Scotland  re- 
ceived ? 

What  did  the  Cameronians  do  to  help  the  new  government  in 
Edinburgh  ? 

How  did  the  Cameronians  act  when  they  were  offered  pay  for 
their  services? 

What  "manifesto"  did  they  publish? 

Who  were  the  first  soldiers  to  declare  for  William  and  Mary? 

Where  did  William  land? 

What  did  King  James  II.  do  when  he  heard  of  William's  arrival  ? 

Give  an  account  of  how  the  Laird  of  Torfoot  heard  the  good 
news. 

Who  brought  the  news  of  the  Revolution? 

What  flag  did  he  carry? 

What  did  John  Howie  say? 

Who  was  in  charge  of  Edinburgh  Castle? 

What  did  Claver'house  do  to  help  the  dethroned  King  James  II.  ? 

Who  were  the  commanders  at  the  battle  of  Killiecrankie? 

What  was  the  result  of  the  battle? 

What  was  the  result  of  Claverhouse's  death? 

What  became  of  James  II.  ? 


142  THE  BLUE  FLAG. 

When  and  where  was  the  last  battle  fought? 

When  did  James  II.  die,  and  where? 

How  many  Covenanters  were  killed  or  exiled  during  the  twenty- 
eight  years'  conflict,  from  1660  to  1688? 

Where  is  the  "Martyr's  Monument"  ? 

What  kind  of  inscription  is  on  it? 

Repeat  Janet  Hamilton's  verses. 

What  should  be  the  feeling  of  ;11  who  read  the  history  of  the 
Covenanters? 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


Act  of  Indiifgence,  74. 
Airdsmoss,  82. 
Argyle,  Earl  of,  91,  98. 
Argyle,  Marquis  of,  35. 

Baillie,  Robert,  90. 
Balfour  of  Burley,  59. 
Bothwell  Brig,  Battle  of,  68. 
Boyne,  Battle  of,  127. 
Brown,  John,  99. 
Burnet,  Archbishop,  16,  44. 

Cameron,  Richard,  75. 
Cargill,  Rev.  Donald,  75,  84. 
Charles  I.,  11,  25. 
Charles  II.,  26,  99. 
Claverhouse.  65,  127. 
Confession,  King's,  18. 
Confession  of  Faith,  30. 
Conventicles,  58. 
Covenant,  National,  18. 
Cromwell,  34. 

\  Dalziel  of  Bims,  50. 
Drumclog,  65. 
t)unottar  Castle,  106. 

Flag  of  the  Covenanters,  24. 

Geddes,  Jennv,  10. 
Giles,  St.,  Cathedral,  14. 
Govan,  William,  40. 
Grassmarket,  119. 
Greyfriars  Church,  19,  71. 
Guthrie,  Rev.  James,  39. 


Hamilton,  Sir  Robert,  65. 
Henderson,  Alex.,  17. 
Howie,  John,  53. 

James  I.,  11. 

James  II.,  97,  122,  128. 

Kerr,  Sir  Robert,  53. 
Killiecrankie,  Battle  of,  1^7. 
Knox,  John,  11. 

Louis  XIV.,  127. 

Maiden,  The,  38. 
Martyr's  Monument,  128. 
McKail,  Rev.  Hugh,  51. 
McKenzie,  Sir  George,  92. 
McLauchlan,   Margaret,   103. 
Middleton,  Earl  of,  35. 
IMonmouth,  Duke  of,  ^"^ . 

Netherbow  Port,  85. 

Orange,  William  of,  123. 
Orkneys,  Wreck  at,  72. 

Peden,  Alex.,  108. 

Pentland  Hills,  Battle  of,  50. 

Questions,  133,  etc. 

Renwick,  Rev.  James,  87,  w'h. 
Rothes,  Earl  of,  47. 
Rullion  Green,  51. 
Rutherford,  Rev.  Samuel,  40. 


146 


INDEX. 


Sanquhar,  Declaration,  79. 
Sharp,  Archbishop,  43,  59. 
Solemn     League    and    Cove- 
nant, 27,  32. 

Tolbooth,  41. 
Torfoot,  Laird  of,  126. 
Turner,  Sir  James,  48. 


Warriston.  Earl  of,  48. 
Welsh,  Rev.  John,  76. 
Westminster  Assembly,  30. 
Wilson,  Margaret,  103. 

York,  Duke  of,  70. 


I 


